Oil demand has fallen for the first time since the 2008-09 global financial crisis, a result of the weakening economy, a mild winter in the northern hemisphere and high crude prices, say estimates from the Inter-national Energy Agency.

The industrialised nations’ watchdog said that oil demand dropped 300,000 barrels a day year on year in the final quarter of 2011. The agency, while still forecasting overall growth in demand for 2012, revised down its outlook for this year from growth of 1.3m barrels a day to 1.1m b/d, and said that more revisions were possible. Global demand in 2011 was 89.5m b/d.

David Fyfe, head of the IEA’s oil industry and markets arm, said that the drop in demand late last year reflected the mild winter, which was in sharp contrast to the cold winter of 2010-11. But it was still surprising. “It is quite rare” to see an absolute contraction, he said. “We’re flagging that there are clearly downside risks to the global economy and to oil demand.”