As we all know by now, in the past 18 months oil prices fell significantly, due to increased production in the U.S., and OPEC’s decision not to act as the swing producer, from $114 a barrel in June 2014, to below $30 on Monday, a knee-jerk reaction to the lifting of the sanctions against Iran.
Iran has promised to immediately boost production by 500.000 barrels of oil per day. International Energy Agency, however, feels that around 300 kb/d of additional crude could be flowing to world markets by the end of the current quarter.
According to a Reuters report on Monday, Peter Voser , former CEO of Shell, now a Chairman of ABB, said the oil prices could plunge further, but he expects to see a gradual rise in prices starting the second half of 2017.
This time last year, Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said in the long term, if the cuts in investments by the oil companies persist, we could be seeing oil jump to $200 a barrel, if OPEC keeps pumping at the current rate.
However, seeing that the oil price is now closer to $20 than to $200, as it hit a 2003 low after it slipped to below $28 a barrel, we would like to ask you, our readers if you feel the prices will reach $20 per barrel in 2016.
Offshore Energy Today Staff