IEA sees only partial rebound in oil prices

London

GLOBAL oil prices will recover only partially from spectacular lows, which are unlikely to spur economic growth or kill off US shale gas production, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

The IEA said in its five-year forecast that crude prices will recover from around their current range of US$50-US$60 per barrel, but remain well below the level of more than US$100 per barrel seen before the slump began last June.

"While there have been drops and price corrections roughly every 10 years since the 1970s, there has never been a situation like we are facing today," the IEA's executive director, Maria van der Hoeven, said following the release of the report.

"The global oil market looks set to begin a new chapter of its history, with markedly changing demand dynamics, sweeping shifts in crude trade and product supply, and dramatically different roles for Opec and non-Opec producers in regulating upstream supply,"…