Crude Prices to Remain Skyrocketing
The crude oil prices have been on the verge of new records for a few days running. Past morning, for instance, the August futures for Brent lacked just a quarter to break the historical maximum. What’s more, the prices are forecasted to remain skyrocketing for long – OPEC will hardly drive down the quotes and no news that could give rise to decline are expected in the nearest months or even the years.
The Brent futures, August delivery, reached $78.40/bbl on ICE past morning, which is just $0.25 below the absolute record set in August of 2006. The cost of OPEC basket is nearing the record as well; it stood at $72.49/bbl as of July 13.
The trend for skyrocketing prices could survive for long, the analysts forecasted in a number of reports released yesterday.
The non-OPEC producers supplied less than expected, said the OPEC report when specifying the growth reasons. Today’s forecast is that their daily deliveries will be no more than 50.4 million bbl this year, i.e. 200,000 bbl below the initial estimate.
One of the reasons is general ageing of the North Sea’s fields: the May-June output of Norway was the lowest in the last 13 years.
When shaping outlooks for global economy, big numbers of analysts have taken into consideration high prices for hydrocarbon as a long-term factor. Deutsche Bank, for instance, upgraded the long-term forecast from $45/bbl to $60/bbl, acknowledging at the same time that there are no signs that such high prices would hinder the economic growth or drive up the supply.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 17, 2007
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