Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Analysts of the US JP Morgan bank don't expect oil prices to see any growth during the next two quarters of this year.
Brent price will average some $31.25 a barrel in 2016 with the lowest level of $25 a barrel in the second quarter of the year, according to the analysts' forecasts published in their weekly report, obtained by Trend.
In the first quarter analysts forecasts Brent price to average $28 a barrel, while in the third quarter they expect average price at $32 a barrel. Only in the last quarter of 2016, US analysts forecast Brent average price to reach $40 a barrel.
JP Morgan analysts forecast WTI average price to be almost same level with Brent this year - at $31.5 a barrel with $27 a barrel in the first quarter, $26 in the second quarter, $33 in the third quarter and $40 in the fourth quarter.
For 2017 analysts forecast Brent and WTI average prices to be the same at $43.25 a barrel with the highest level at $50 a barrel in the fourth quarter for both benchmarks.
Crude prices continued to trend down last week on concerns over oil demand growth, before rallying on Friday on developments related to the potential for a deal between OPEC members, the report said.
The timing for a deal that in some way reboots OPEC as an effective cartel and includes cuts from non-OPEC producers, e.g. Russia, still appears premature, analysts believe.
Brent crude was up 0.30 percent at $33.46 a barrel for April delivery on Monday, Feb.15. US WTI was up 1.02 percent at $29.74 for March delivery.