"Preventing crude prices from falling much further have been USA sanctions on Venezuela, targetting its state-owned oil firm PDVSA".

"In quantity terms, in 2019, the US alone will grow its crude oil production by more than Venezuela's current output".

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $51.92 per barrel at 0144 GMT, down 80 cents, or 1.5 percent, from their last settlement.

"Light crudes naturally yield more gasoline, and together with relatively modest demand-growth, this has driven gasoline stocks sharply higher and crack spreads sharply lower in recent months", Morgan Stanley said.

Brent crude, the world's oil benchmark, increased 3 percent to $63.32 a barrel after the report was released today.

Oil prices have remained steady near $60/bbl in London even as turmoil builds in Venezuela, as markets work through plentiful supplies accumulated a year ago, the IEA said.

The latest short-term energy outlook "puts the nation on track to set a new production record for a third consecutive year", EIA Administrator Linda Capuano said in a statement.

"Crude oil quality is another issue, and, in the wider context of supply in the early part of 2019, it is even more important", the IEA said.

Those fears dissipated after Washington eventually granted waivers allowing several countries to continue to import Iranian oil.

None of these options are appealing, and all of them are likely to result in higher costs for refined products, particularly the middle distillates such as diesel and jet fuel that are produced in greater quantities from heavy crudes.

The decrease by the group of 14 producer countries - which has long manipulated oil output to influence global prices in members' favor - brought total production to 30.81 million barrels per day in the month, the report said citing secondary sources.

In the meantime, the political rift between Venezuela and the United States continues with the USA sanctions against the South American nation giving prices a slight boost. OPEC's share of that cut is 800,000 bpd. In quality terms, it is more complicated.

Furthermore, the report affirmed that in 2019, demand for OPEC crude is forecast at 30.6 mb/d, around 1.0 mb/d lower than the 2018 level.

OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed in December to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from January 1 to prevent excess supply building up. The group made a strong start to the strategy, slashing output by 930,000 bopd to the lowest in nearly four years, the IEA said. Most recently he worked with TradeTheNews.com, where he provided market analysis on economic data and corporate news.