IEA warns upside risks for oil still big

Reuters - Global oil demand growth will inch higher over the rest of this year and into 2011, but any rise will be wiped out if the economy is weaker than forecast, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil demand growth will inch higher over the rest of this year and into 2011, but any rise will be wiped out if the economy is weaker than forecast, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

Dr. Duru submits: On Wednesday, Wunderlich Securities issued a trading call on solar stocks citing a correlation with oil prices. First Solar (FSLR) was the prime beneficiary of this research.

Global oil demand growth will inch higher over the rest of this year and into 2011, but any rise will be wiped out if the economy is weaker than forecast, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday

SINGAPORE/SEOUL — South Korea’s Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co has revived a contract to buy Iranian oil after a year’s hiatus, as thin margins in plastics make the cheap fuel from Iran hard to resist, people familiar with the deal said on Friday. Stringent U.S. and European sanctions aimed at reducing Iran’s oil income and forcing Tehran to curb its nuclear programme have made shipping and paying for the oil hard, halving the Islamic Republic’s crude exports.

Iran's oil exports have been slashed 40 percent in the past nine months because of tough Western sanctions, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi was quoted as saying on Monday, in a reversal of his previous denials of any decline at all.

U.S. oil and gas production over the next two decades will be higher than previously expected, the government said on Wednesday, underscoring the push toward greater energy self-sufficiency and more exports of natural gas. In its annual outlook, including the first forecasts through 2040, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said imports as a share of total U.S. energy production, including oil, gas and renewables, would be 9% by 2040 against 19% in 2011 and 29% as recently as 2007.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as the International Energy Agency maintained its 2012 oil growth demand forecast and predicted a large drop in Iranian crude exports.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April dipped 16 cents to $106.55 a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for April shed 10 cents to $126.12 in London midday deals.Iranian oil exports were likely to fall by nearly half within six months, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, while holding its estimate of global oil demand steady for the first time since late 2011.