The Paris-based agency said global oil stocks will experience a “dramatic reduction” in the second half of the year, but also warned that they will continue to increase in the first half of the year as Iran ramps up its production, adding to the nearly two years of oversupply.

Changes to the data in this month’s confirm the direction of travel of the oil market towards balance. The net result of our changes to demand and supply data is that we expect to see global oil stocks increase by 1.3 million b/d in the first half of 2016 followed by a dramatic reduction in the second half of 2016 to 200,000 b/d.

BP’s own forecast shows global energy demand rising one-third higher by 2035 than it is today, which would be like adding the total combined energy demand of the US, the European Union, and Japan. And it’s BP’s expectation that more than half of this demand will be met by oil and gas by 2035.

Amid improving market sentiment and a weakening dollar, the World Bank is raising its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to $41 per barrel from $37 per barrel.

A global crude oil deficit will develop before the end of this year, the chairman of Facts Global Energy consultancy Fereidun Fesharaki said Monday.

Saudi Arabia is the largest supplier of crude oil to India, where oil demand grew by 5.7% last year and is expected by the International Energy Agency to increase 6.3% this year.

Supply may exceed consumption by an average of 1.75 million barrels a day in the period, compared with an estimate of 1.5 million last month, and the excess could swell if OPEC adds more output, the IEA said. Iran raised production in January following the removal of international sanctions, Iraqi volumes reached a record and Saudi Arabia also ramped up output. The agency trimmed estimates for global oil demand.

"The market is oversupplied and production capacity will continue to grow because a lot of projects were sanctioned in 2013 and 2014," Pouyanne told reporters on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.

"The fourth-quarter oil demand will be mainly boosted by heating oil demand in Asia. And in 2016, North America and Asia will continue to drive the global oil demand growth," the country's third-largest refiner said in an earnings statement.

World economic growth has been revised down to 3.1% for 2015 and to 3.4% for 2016. While OECD growth remains unchanged at 2.0% for 2015 and 2.1% in 2016, major emerging economies are increasingly facing challenges. China’s and India’s growth forecasts have been revised down by 0.1 percentage points to now stand at 6.8% and 6.4% for China and at 7.4% and 7.6% for India in 2015 and 2016, respectively.