Image credit: A/S Global Risk Management

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After nearly reaching a four-month high earlier this week, Brent slipped a couple of dollars yesterday and, at the time of writing, is around $78.4.

A monthly oil market report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of increasing global economic risks over the next few months due to uncertainties regarding emerging markets' economies and the risk of escalating trade disputes - items which could reduce demand for oil on a global scale. According to the report, global oil supply hit a record high in August - 100 mio. barrels per day - with OPEC crude supply hitting 32.63 mio. barrels per day, which is a nine-month high.

India will likely cut its monthly crude imports from Iran this and next month by half in an attempt to comply with the upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran to below 12 mio. barrels. India is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, China is the largest buyer. India is also the world's third-largest oil importer, importing 70% of its energy demand; hereof, 83% of its oil demand comes from external sources. Options for India to replace the Iranian oil could be Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Tonight, the weekly oil rig count from Baker Hughes is published. Last week saw a drop in the number of active U.S. oil rigs of 2. Since May, the number has been hovering around 860 plus/minus 10.

Turning to economic data, overnight Chinese Industrial production for August showed a slight increase 6.1% versus 6.0% previous. Later today, U.S. Core Retail Sales and Retail Sales is published.