NEW YORK, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell on Thursday as market participants continued to grapple with concerns over sluggish global demand triggered by economic slowdown.
A report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday showed tightness in the oil market due to the ongoing supply cut efforts by major oil producers.
However, it also cautioned that sufficient attention should be paid to the demand side, which is equally important to the energy prices.
Overall demand in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries fell by 0.3 million barrels per day year-over-year in the fourth quarter in 2018, the first such fall for any quarter since the end of 2014, and it is likely to have fallen again in the first quarter this year due to weakness in some European economies, said the IEA report.
Concerns about trade talks linger, and the mood will be influenced by the recent downgrade to global growth by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), although it should be noted that the IMF does not expect a recession in the near term, it noted.
Earlier this week, the IMF lowered its global growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from its estimation in January.
The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery decreased 1.03 U.S. dollars to settle at 63.58 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery fell 0.90 dollar to close at 70.83 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
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