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LONDON - The world oil market will be comfortably supplied in 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, even after producer group OPEC+ extended oil supply cuts and a slightly higher than expected demand forecast.
The agency said its current outlook points to a 950,000 barrels per day overhang next year - equal to almost 1% of world output - despite OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia - extending output cuts to April 2025.
Oil demand growth has been weaker than expected this year in large part because of China. After driving rises in oil consumption for years, economic challenges and a shift towards electric vehicles are tempering oil growth prospects in the world's second-largest consumer.
Still, the IEA increased its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 million bpd from 990,000 bpd last month, "largely in Asian countries due to the impact of China's recent stimulus measures," it said in its monthly oil market report.
China will adopt an "appropriately loose" monetary policy next year, the first easing of its stance in some 14 years, alongside a more proactive fiscal policy to spur economic growth, the Politburo was quoted as saying on Monday.
(Reporting by Alex Lawler; Editing by Susan Fenton and Barbara Lewis)