WTI crude futures plunged to a six-month low of $86.8 per barrel before consolidating below $89, as prolonged concerns of a slowdown in the global economy weighed on the outlook of energy demand. Industrial production figures in top oil importer China missed expectations, pointing to a sluggish recovery from the strict Covid lockdowns in the end of the second quarter. The increasingly worse economic outlook added to OPEC’s expectations of a decline in oil demand and supply increases, which challenged contrary views from the IEA citing gas-to-oil switching for power generation. In the meantime, hopes of more supplies from Iran emerged after the state run IRNA said that it could accept the EU’s offer to revive the Iranian nuclear deal. Elsewhere, Saudi Aramco head Amin Nasser said Sunday that the state-owned firm stands ready to raise crude output to its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels a day if the Saudi Arabian government orders it to do so.
.
Historically, Crude oil reached an all time high of 147.27 in July of 2008. Crude oil - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on August of 2022.
Crude oil is expected to trade at 95.42 USD/BBL by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 106.96 in 12 months time.