Oil markets unbalanced despite additional OPEC cuts: International agency

Additional cuts by the powerful OPEC group of oil producers and its allies may not be enough to eliminate a glut of crude on the global market, the IEA warned on Thursday.

Meanwhile, energy consumption by China is bounding higher — a signal that the country’s economy may be in better shape than widely thought as its trade war with the United States rumbles on.

Last Friday, OPEC and its allies reached a deal to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day in a bid to support prices which have been under pressure from abundant reserves and weak global economic growth.

While Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, agreed a further voluntary reduction of 400,000 barrels per day, the International Energy Agency said that most of that cut had already been implemented already.