(Bloomberg) -- The International Energy Agency, the energy adviser to 27 nations, cut its forecast for global oil demand in 2008 for a fourth month as record prices crimp consumption in the world's most developed economies.

The forecast was cut by 390,000 barrels a day to 86.84 million barrels a day, from 87.23 million barrels last month, the Paris-based agency said today in its monthly report. After today's revision, which ``may not be the last,'' the group expects world consumption to grow 1.2 percent this year, the slowest expansion since 2006.


Oil prices have doubled over the last year to $126.40 a barrel yesterday, and record energy costs may cause a global recession, IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said last month. Crude may rise to between $150 and $200 within two years as supply stagnates, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts led by Arjun Murti said last week.

``Oil prices are too high for everyone, especially for developing countries which are also facing other price increases,'' Tanaka said at a conference in Paris today. ``There's no clear single explanation for the high oil prices.''