Experts from one of the largest international financial conglomerates, Citigroup, led by its director, the famous and authoritative Ed Morse, have raised their forecasts for oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude, according to the bank's analysts, will have an average price of $ 69 per barrel. Actually, by the time of preparation of this review, Brent's quotes have already managed to overcome the predicted threshold.
Oil prices are rising steadily today, March 15, as the released data showed an accelerated recovery of the Chinese economy earlier this year. China is the world's largest importer of oil, so this news improves the prospects for energy demand. At the time of preparation of this material, the futures of the benchmark Brent brand are trading in the green zone – at 69.21.
The price forecast from Citigroup analysts has been raised for each quarter this year. It is expected that within the next few months, the price of black gold will overcome the $ 75 mark and reach the level of $ 80 per barrel.
At the same time, experts led by Ed Morse stressed that the current upward trend will not be like a new supercycle. It is likely that in the long term, the average price of oil will fall below $ 50 per barrel. According to the forecasts of leading experts, a significant decline in oil prices will occur in 2023.
At its last meeting, OPEC+ announced a decision not to increase oil production in April, but to keep it at a very limited level. Taking into account these irreconcilable actions of the alliance, the reserves of the oil energy carrier are being depleted much faster than previously expected. Thus, the revision of forecasts from leading analysts regarding the future value of black gold in the upward direction is quite understandable.
It should be recognized that for those market players who are going to make money on the growth of the value of the asset, there are considerable risks. First of all, the "bulls" should take into account not the fastest growth rates of business activity in the post-crisis period. Do not forget about the temporary agreement between the United States and Iran, which may lead to the fact that the export of black gold from the Islamic Republic will significantly increase.