Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend:
The price of Brent crude may reach $80 per barrel by the second quarter of 2018, Alexander Pasechnik, head of the Analytical Department at Russia's National Energy Security Fund, told Trend May 14.
"Today, the situation around Iran, as well as production decline in Venezuela due to the difficult economic situation in there are mainly in the focus of speculators," he said, adding that surely the factor of the OPEC+ agreement is also taken into account.
"As for the shale factor, stock exchanges have forgotten this for now. So, it is quite possible that we will see $80 per barrel of Brent in the second quarter."
Touching upon the situation with Iran, the expert said the OPEC+ countries will be able to compensate for the consequences of declining production, which the Islamic Republic will face given the US sanctions.
"A meeting of the Technical Monitoring Committee will be held in May, and this issue is likely to be considered there. In any case, if sanctions against Iran are toughened, the country will be forced to cut production, which in turn will lead to a certain reduction in Iran's share in the world market. Other players in OPEC will compensate for this quota. As for the OPEC+ deal, it has not been revised for now. However, the deal is expected to be extended for the first half or possibly for the entire 2019," Pasechnik said.
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