'Mission accomplished' for OPEC as oil stocks shrink: IEA

World oil stocks have fallen significantly last year, and will they are about to fall below the five-year level in the coming months, the International Energy Agency said on Friday in a report.

Stocks in industrial countries fell to around 2.8 billion barrels by the end of February, to remain up by 30 million barrels from their five-year average as early as May, IEA said.

“It is not for us to declare on behalf of the Vienna agreement countries that it is ‘mission accomplished’, but if our outlook is accurate, it certainly looks very much like it,” the agency said.

IEA added that there is an element of risk to its outlook from the current tension on trade tariffs between China and the US, which would impact economic growth and eventually affect demand on oil.

The slowdown in global trade would directly affect demand for marine fuels, and demand for oil would suffer from the direct impact of less fuel consumption and reduced cargo transport, it added.