Oil demand is expected to drop this year for the first time in decades, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based inter-governmental organization that monitors this sort of thing. Global oil demand in 2008 was just 85.8 million barrels per day, according to the IEA eggheads. That’s 200,000 bpd less than last year.

The globe’s thirst for crude has been rising steadily over the years, and demand hasn’t dropped since Michael Jackson’s music video for “”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o">Thriller" first debuted (1983, if you’re not a fan of the King of Pop).

The drop in demand is undoubtedly bad news for alternative fuels, such as biofuels, which rely on high oil prices to remain competitive. But the dip could be very short-lived, the IEA thinks that oil demand will rise again in 2009.