THE OIL WOODSHED

The market took oil for another visit to the woodshed as the International Energy agency released it's latest report. World demand for next year, according the the report, will decline from 1.8 billion barrels a day to 1.2 billion.

Overnight in New York, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell to a new low seven-year low of about $36.13 per barrel.

The International Energy Agency said in its monthly report that the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week t o continue to pump crudeat record levels into an already oversupplied market is hurting producers outside the oil cartel, especially the shale industry in the U.S.

"As companies make further spending cuts in reaction to sub-$50/bbl oil, the impact on supplies…will be even more pronounced in the longer term," the Paris-based agency said. However, it added that "as inventories continue to swell into 2016, there will still be a lot of oil weighing on the market."

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.7% to $39.86 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 0.5% at $36.56 a barrel.

On Thursday, both benchmarks reached their lowest settlement value since Feb. 18, 2009.

The IEA, which advises the world's biggest economies on energy policies, also projected that world oil demand growth will slow to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2016 after surging to 1.8 million barrels a day this year, as support from sharply falling oil prices begins to fade.

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