OPEC tells IMF bearish oil market to persist

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The global financial crisis and worsening economic outlook is likely to sustain a bearish oil market and this poses a risk of oversupply in the first half of 2009, OPEC said on Saturday.

"The overall bearish sentiment in the market is expected to persist, particularly since there seems to be no quick end to the current financial market crisis or the worsening economic outlook," Mohammad Alipour-Jeddi, head of OPEC's petroleum studies department, said in a statement to the International Monetary Fund's steering committee.