Judging by comments from oil producing countries and the bumper profits of oil companies in the last couple of years, there are plenty of people out there quite happy with the way things are going in the market these days, but the International Energy Agency clearly isn't one of them.
Its latest report published today paints a fairly pessimistic picture of the short-term outlook, sounding the alarm bell on stock levels again and repeating a call we've heard from the IEA a few times in recent months for OPEC to pump more oil onto the market.
Finding a clear message from some IEA reports can be a tricky business, with scores of historical data revisions on both the demand and supply side, endless changes to the 'call' on OPEC and a review of the stocks situation which has often been left behind by more recent updates from the EIA and API in the US.
But not this time. US gasoline stocks are at 16-year lows for this time of year and risk falling further, with unplanned refinery outages only adding to the dangers, it says. Even the picture with crude stocks is getting blacker, with the prospect of a "sharp fall" by the summer unless OPEC opens the taps -- something there is no sign of as yet.
The IEA said some optimists could see the glass as half-empty, but that as far it was concerned the market looks like being thirsty in the months ahead.
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