Signs of a strong rally in global economic growth and oil demand this year are fading but there could be a dramatic turnaround next year, the IEA said.

Recent data is showing that American motorists might again hold back on their so-called driving season this year, and emerging economies would be the main force behind renewed strong oil demand when it came, the IEA said.

In the last two months, many economists had announced that the global recession was bottoming out and were forecasting a strong recovery in the second half of this year, the International Energy Agency commented.

But "over the past two weeks the mood has suddenly changed, as many leading economic and energy indicators continue to show very weak readings, suggesting that the "green shoots" have been largely driven by a rebuild of inventories rather than by strong end-user demand," the IEA said.

"We thus remain sceptical regarding the much-trumpeted, strong second half 2009 demand rebound, even if China exceeds expectations," it said in its monthly oil report.

But "in 2010, by contrast, the picture could be dramatically different," the agency said while stressing that forecasts were "perilous" given "the great uncertainty regarding the pace and strength of the global economic recovery".