Global oil output will exceed demand until late 2017, the head of International Energy Agency said before major producing nations gather for talks. "We don’t see the oil market rebalancing until late 2017" provided there is no “major intervention”, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg in Algiers. The Paris-based agency is extending its bearish view after saying on Sept. 13 that oil supply will outpace demand “at least through the first half of next year”. OPEC members will hold informal discussions in the Algerian capital on Wednesday as they seek to buoy prices following two years of decline amid brimming global stockpiles. "Demand growth has been weaker than expected," Birol said. The IEA this month cut its forecast for consumption growth in 2016 and 2017, citing a "marked slowdown" in India and China. The agency, which advises industrialized countries on energy policy, projected demand growth of 1.3 million barrels a day in 2016, down from 1.6 million a day in 2015. Its prediction slips to 1.2 million a day next year.
