6 April 2016
Missing barrels and data revisions
The International Energy Agency has changed its view of the oil market. What’s going on?
FROM “drowning in oversupply” to “light at the end of the tunnel”, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has in just three months accomplished what can only be described as a U-turn on its message to the oil market. In its January monthly Oil-Market Report, the agency told readers the prospect of 0.6m barrels a day (b/d) of new Iranian oil output by the middle of the year could overwhelm the market, especially if Opec members maintained their output levels. Already buckling under the weight of a 1bn-barrel build in OECD crude stocks between 2014 and 2015, oil inventories would add another 285m barrels this year, it said in the same report. Global oil supply would exceed demand by 1.5m b/d in
Also in this section
19 January 2026
Newfound optimism is emerging that a dormant exploration frontier could become a strategic energy play and—whisper it quietly—Europe’s next offshore opportunity
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
