Crimea clouds oil market outlook

The global oil market is returning to a rough balance but Russia's annexation of Crimea has clouded the outlook with both supply and demand growth to slow, the International Energy Agency said Friday. While the IEA has recently been warning of tight markets as oil demand picks up with a recovery of the global economy, it said stocks had improved and a slowdown in the Russian economy would also help relieve pressure. The IEA left its global demand forecast for 2014 roughly unchanged at 92.7 million barrels per day (mbd), and a trim to its forecast for growth in non-OPEC supplies means the global market will need more oil from the cartel later this year. "One month after the events in Crimea, market watchers are taking stock of their impact on oil markets," said the Paris-based institution which analyses energy markets for the world's top oil-consuming nations, according to AFP.