New York: On Friday, oil prices dropped after International Energy Agency claimed that it expected to see a modest surplus in supply in the global oil market during the first quarter of 2019.

"On the basis of solid oil demand growth, modest declines in OPEC production due to Iran and Venezuela, and rising US output, the market could show a modest surplus in 1Q19, before flipping into deficit in 2Q19 by about 0.5 mb/d (million barrels per day)", stated the IEA in its latest oil market report.

Stressing the importance of production cuts of major oil producers, IEA said that the cuts "have increased the spare capacity cushion."

"This is especially important now as economic sentiment is becoming more pessimistic and the global economy could be entering a vulnerable period", said the agency.

The West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April fell by 0.09 US dollar to rest at 58.52 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Whereas, Brent crude for delivery in May decreased by 0.07 dollar to close at 67.16 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

