Oil’s gains will accelerate in the second half of this year with prices averaging $85 a barrel for Brent crude in 2015, Standard Chartered Plc forecast.
Rising US production will slow in April, helping to balance supply with strengthening demand in the final six months this year, Marios Maratheftis, Standard Chartered’s global head of research, said at a conference in Dubai. Brent has averaged $53.56 a barrel so far in 2015, according to Bloomberg.
Standard Chartered’s outlook contrasts with Barclays Plc’s forecast that prices are set to weaken in the “near future,” while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week stuck with its call of $39 for New York oil which was trading at $49.70 a barrel Monday.
“Oil prices will begin to rebound sustainably in the second half of the year,” Maratheftis said.
Brent has advanced 3.2 percent this year on speculation slowing drilling in the US will curb output. Demand is improving amid signs prices are stabilizing, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on Feb. 12, citing Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided Nov. 27 to leave its production target unchanged, leaving other suppliers to cut back. Brent is $59.16 a barrel, after trading as high as $115.71 a barrel in June.
