IEA sees risk of volatile oil prices on weak upstream investment

Global benchmark Brent crude futures were down 6 cents, or 0.11 percent, at $52.36 a barrel at 0309 GMT. U.S. crude futures were down 7 cents, or 0.14 percent at $49.51 per barrel.

RIYADH: A dearth of new investment in oil production is stoking a risk of tighter crude supply and unstable prices, even as demand growth is expected to slow over the next five years, a senior International Energy Agency (IEA) official.

The worldwide cushion of spare production capacity would shrink without further investment in exploration and output, Neil Atkinson, the head of the IEA’s oil markets and industry division, said yesterday at a conference in Manama, Bahrain.