Brent Crude prices are set to average $80 a barrel in 2022, Barclays said on Tuesday, raising its forecast by $3 as it expects slower supply growth next year and faster inventory drawdown by the end of this year. Oversupply at the start of 2022 seems to be the general forecast of nearly all analysts and observers, including OPEC+ itself, which has been cautioning for months against adding more production than planned. In view of the expected surplus, OPEC+ could slow or even pause the monthly additions of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), if the current COVID resurgence weighs significantly on global oil demand, according to Barclays. The planned, coordinated release of SPR from the United States and major Asian consumers, including India and Japan, would not materially move oil prices, the UK bank said. Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs said that the recent oil price decline was not justified by fundamentals, keeping its estimate of Brent averaging $85 per barrel in Q4.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 24, 2021 16:05 UTC