MW: Oil futures fall for fifth day on worries over weak demand
IEA leaves its 2010 global oil demand forecast "virtually unchanged"
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures dropped below $79 a barrel, falling for a fifth session, as the International Energy Agency said that the recent bout of cold weather wasn't enough to boost demand projections for the first quarter.
Crude oil for February delivery fell 51 cents to $78.88 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Concerns over weak demand continued to dominate sentiment and exert downward pressure on oil prices.
The International Energy Agency reported Friday that it left its forecasts for global oil demand for 2009 and 2010 "virtually unchanged."
Global oil demand is expected to average 84.9 million barrels a day in 2009, down 1.5% year-on-year, and 86.3 million barrels a day in 2010, up 1.7% compared to the previous year, the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly market report.
"Growth is driven by non-OECD countries, most notably in Asia," the agency said. "Oil demand recovery in the OECD will likely remain sluggish, despite the recent cold weather."
Commenting on the recent cold wave in the Northern Hemisphere, the IEA said that the already relatively small share of oil for heating and power generation is shrinking in the OECD, as oil is gradually replaced by other energy sources, most notably natural gas.
Also, it remains to be seen whether this winter overall will be much colder on average than last year's, the IEA added.
U.S. stock futures slipped Friday ahead of a string of economic data, with stronger-than-forecast profits from J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM 44.35, -0.34, -0.76%) and Intel (INTC 21.48, +0.52, +2.48%) not enough to push markets past 15-month highs.
Numerous economic reports will be released on Friday, including December consumer prices and industrial production, and January Empire State index and consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.
The CPI and Empire State data are due at 8:30 a.m., the industrial production figures come at 9:15 a.m. and the Michigan sentiment data is due at 10 a.m., all Eastern time.
