...

Brent prices to average $67/b in H2 2019

Oil&Gas Materials 11 July 2019 11:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 11

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts Brent spot prices will average $67/b in the second half of 2019 and remain at that level in 2020.

“Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $64 per barrel (b) in June, $7/b lower than in May 2019 and $10/b lower than the price in June of last year. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average $62/b in the second half of 2019 and $63/b in 2020,” Trend reports citing EIA.

The recent price declines largely reflect increasing uncertainty about global oil demand growth as a result of increasingly weak global economic signals, reads a report released by EIA.

“Weakening oil demand, combined with strong supply growth in the United States, has helped build global oil inventories so far in 2019 and has limited any sustained upward pressure on oil prices. In terms of price formation in recent months, these factors have outweighed decreasing supply in Venezuela and Iran, the extension of the OPEC+ agreement through the first quarter 2020, as well as Saudi Arabia’s continued over-compliance with the existing OPEC+ agreements,” said the report.

EIA estimates that global petroleum and other liquid fuels inventories rose by an average of 0.7 million b/d in 2018 and by an estimated 0.2 million b/d in the first half of 2019. EIA expects that strong growth in U.S. and other non-OPEC liquid fuels production, combined with slowing global oil demand growth, will contribute to a balanced market in the second half of 2019 and inventory builds of about 0.1 million b/d in 2020.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn

Tags:
Latest

Latest