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Oil price spikes likely in 2022 amid inventory tightness midyear

Oil&Gas 22 January 2022 13:28 (UTC +04:00)
Oil price spikes likely in 2022 amid inventory tightness midyear

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.22

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Oil price spikes are likely in 2022 amid inventory tightness midyear, Trend reports with reference to the Energy Intelligence 2022 Outlook.

“We see an above-consensus path for prices over the next few years, with $75 the normalized level (up from a pre-pandemic range of $60-$65). There is room for significant upside in 2022 amid inventory tightness midyear, especially in the US/OECD. We see Brent averaging close to $80 this year, with potential spikes into the $90s,” reads the report.

The company believes that a possible Iranian deal would be the key price dampener.

Five key market themes shape the 2022 outlook of Energy Intelligence:

- Market tightness returns after winter respite—In the OECD/US markets, in particular, the company sees demand cover lower than it has been for a long time (pre-shale boom in US). Ongoing SPR sales further this trend.

- OPEC+ continues to manage market while scraping spare capacity, watch Iran— the company estimates the group’s nameplate spare capacity at 6 million b/d, but with only about 3 million b/d readily available (underinvestment downside, plus outages). Iran presents a widely divergent pathway for supply, and a possible nuclear agreement would be the main price dampener.

- Oil demand will continue to grow despite long-term climate focus— Energy Intelligence sees pre-COVID-19 levels of demand exceeded in six to nine months, and consumption climbing from there, through 2028. The US will see a significant boost in consumption.

- Supply constraints continue to bite—weak global upstream spending and conservative capex budgeting will continue.

- Geopolitics of a tight oil market will remain in focus—especially in the US in a midterm election year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn

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