There are data points of consequence, and then there are data points that literally alter business plans and national goals.

The International Energy Agency's December oil market report is an example of the later, as the agency forecasts that 2008 global oil demand will decline - - that's correct, decline - - for the first time since 1983.

Oil demand: from boom to bust

The agency now expects 2008 global oil demand will fall by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 85.8 million bpd, down about 350,000 bpd from its previous forecast.

Further, the IEA also sees slower demand growth in 2009, forecasting 2009 global oil demand to rise to only 86.3 million bpd, but the agency quickly noted that the forecast is based on the International Monetary Fund assumption that the global economy will gradually recover starting in the second half of 2009.

Economist Peter Dawson said the U.S. and global recessions are at the heart of both the world's first oil consumption decline in 25 years and the modest oil demand picture for 2009.

"We have seen two, large, macro changes in the oil market. The first was American consumers finally cutting back gasoline consumption. First the $4 a gallon gasoline price, then simply fewer drivers from rising unemployment, cut U.S. gasoline consumption," Dawson said. "Second, the remaining regions of the world, the E.U. and Asia, followed the U.S. into a recession, flat-lining oil growth in these areas. We now have all three major economic regions of the world in recession for the first time in the modern era, and that's really bearish for oil prices."