Oil glut to ease by 2017, clean energy investment to rise - IEA's Birol

SEOUL (Reuters) - The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects oil markets to reach a balance between supply and demand in 2017 as the current oil glut slowly eases, IEA chief Fatih Birol said during meetings in South Korea.

The head of the Paris-based agency also exchanged views on the direction of the world's energy markets in the wake of the renewed commitment to tackle climate change after last year's Paris climate talks with energy minister Joo Hyung-hwan, South Korea's Energy Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The IEA forecast in its August report that oil markets will slowly tighten in the second half of 2016 as global demand growth declines and non-OPEC supplies rebound.

"Oversupply of oil markets will gradually be eased and (oil markets) will find a balance between supply and demand in 2017," Birol said in the statement without elaborating.

Birol also said there is concern that a decline in upstream oil and gas investments because of the prolonged low oil prices could increase oil price volatility.

He added that the start of the new climate regime after Paris would spur research and development investments on clean energy technology, with fast growth expected from solar photovoltaic, wind power and electric car sectors.

(Reporting By Jane Chung; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)