Quarterly Oil Market Update (Q4-2015):Oil prices are going to be lower for longer
Oil Market ReportThe current period of low prices is set to remain throughout 2016, pulled down primarily as a result of persistently high oil supply. All-out competition between members of OPEC will be the main reason for continued oversupplied markets. We expect to see OPEC production rising by a further 500 thousand barrels per day (tbpd) by Q4 2016 year-on-year with most of the rises coming from increased Iranian supply. Meanwhile, recently downward revised global economic growth forecasts by the IMF point to moderate yearly growth in oil demand. All of these factors have led us to cut our full year 2016 Brent forecast to $33 per barrel (pb), from $47 pb previously, and 2017 forecast to $44 pb from 58 pb previously.
Quarterly Oil Market Update (Q1-2016): Production "freezes" not a big deal
Oil Market ReportLower yearly oil prices are taking their toll on shale oil producers, with Q1 2016 seeing the first year-on-year fall in US production in eight years, but record rises in OPEC and Russian crude production have more than compensated for this drop. Oil prices have shown some firmness in the run-up to the production ‘freeze meeting between a number of oil producing countries next week. In our view, there are significant risks to either an agreement being reached or a lack of implementation even if there is an agreement. In both instances we would expect the gains of the previous month or so to be lost. As such we maintain our full year 2016 Brent forecast at $33 pb with prices increasing to $44 pb in 2017.
