Merrill Lynch & Co said there might be "no strong rebound in energy prices" until 2011 because of the slow pace of economic recovery among developed nations.
Growth in worldwide consumption of crude oil in 2010 will fail to make up for a 1.2 million barrel-a-day contraction expected this year, Merrill's head of commodities research Francisco Blanch said in a report. Oil demand will start to increase again from 2011, by 800,000 barrels a day.