In its February Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) burst the bubble created by the idea that a better economy will raise oil prices. The economy is not that much better, the agency expects.

From the report:

Crude oil futures breached nine-month highs in early February, propelled by stronger economic signals from China and the United States, robust financial market activity and cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere, the IEA said in its February Oil Market Report, released on Tuesday, 13 February.

The report slightly lowered its estimate of global oil demand, to 90.7 million barrels a day (mb/d) in 2013, following downward revisions to the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of economic activity, while the global demand estimate for the final quarter of 2012 was trimmed by 210 kb/d to 91.0 mb/d on weaker data for Saudi Arabia and the hurricane-hit United States.

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