Oil Settled Near Highest Level in a Month

Oil prices stabilized Thursday, April 15th, to hold near the highest level in a month after jumping about 5% in the previous session after the International Energy Agency and OPEC raised oil demand forecasts as major economies recovered from the pandemic.

Brent crude rose 4 cents to 66.62 dollars a barrel after it had gained 4.6% on Wednesday and closed at the highest level since March 17.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell three cents to $63.12 a barrel, after increasing 4.9% in the previous session.

Golden Sachs analysts said in a new report that compliance on the level of supplies and the recovery of economies is about to give oil an opportunity to exceed its recent ranges.

Analysts said Golden Sachs, “We remain optimistic about the expectation of Brent crude $80 a barrel in the third quarter of 2021 thanks to the recovery in demand in the near term and compliance in terms of supplies.”

The US investment bank provided a one-year forecast of the global transportation sector’s demand for oil to 2026, due to the increased prevalence of electric cars and the economies ’quest to eliminate carbon.

It is expected that global oil demand and supply will regain their balance in the second half of this year after demand dissipated in 2020 with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Producers may then need to pump an additional 2 million barrels per day to meet demand.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is curbing supplies along with other producers, including Russia, and the organization this week raised its forecast for global oil demand for the current year.

It said it expects demand to rise by 70,000 bpd from last month’s forecast, and global demand is likely to increase by 5.95 million bpd in 2021.