IEA predicts oil oversupply almost gone in H2, after shale drop

© Pincasso

Oil prices are expected to rise in the second half of this year as markets “move close to balance”, according to the International Energy Agency. It has adjusted its forecasts: in February the agency said it had raised its estimates of a global surplus. But falling US shale production, a slower than expected resumption of Iranian oil exports, and declines in non-OPEC oil, means the IEA now expects the surplus will fall to 200,000 barrels a day in the last six months of the year – down from 1.5 million in the first half.