Crude oil prices fell on Thursday after the International Energy Agency said global demand for oil would record its sharpest annual drop since 1981. The developed world’s energy watchdog forecast that demand for oil would shrink by 2.56m barrels a day to 83.2m b/d in 2009, compared with its April forecast for a 2.4m b/d fall in consumption this year.

The IEA said eight out of the world’s 10 largest oil consuming countries were likely to see a “marked fall” in oil demand as their economies slowed or contracted. Only India and Saudi Arabia were expected to see positive oil demand growth.