The Pitiful Oil Market the Saudis and Russia Are Fighting Over

Oil demand growth forecasts have been slashed to their lowest in more than a decade, just as OPEC producers and their allies abandon their four-year-old attempt to limit supply and prop up prices. One of the world’s leading oil forecasting agencies already saw stockpiles soaring this year, even before producers embark on boosting output.

The International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and OPEC — the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — have taken an axe to forecasts for oil demand this year, cutting year-on-year growth to the lowest levels since the financial crisis of 2008-09. The IEA was the first of the three to predict that the world will use less oil in 2020 than it did in 2019. OPEC is the only one of the three that sees stockpiles being drawn down this year - but that was before its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, decided to open the taps and flood the world with crude in a price war that has no quick end in sight.