The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Friday that it expects falling world oil prices to keep falling into 2015, held down by weak demand from China and increasing US shale production.
Falling global oil prices would likely impact the economies of both Sudan and South Sudan, which rely on oil exports in particular for government revenues.
“Our supply and demand forecasts indicate that barring any new supply disruption, downward price pressures could build further in the first half of 2015,” IEA stated.
Oil prices have fallen 30 percent since June due to “deep structural changes” affecting the oil industry.
The energy agency called the falling cost of oil a “price rout,” saying, “supply/demand balances suggest that the price rout has yet to run its course.”
Some international media including The New York Times have attributed the falling price in part to Saudi discounts for crude oil and “surging” oil and gas production in the United States, which resulted in a drop in US imports from other countries.