Barclays Lifted 2024 Brent Crude Oil Price Forecast

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Barclays- the London-headquartered universal bank has lifted its 2024 price forecast for Brent crude oil by $8 per barrel to $97 per barrel. The elevated prices are on account of projected tight market balances next year. However, the 2023 Brent crude prices for 2023 were lowered by $3 per barrel to $84 per barrel. Meantime, the forecast for Q4 prices was left unchanged at $92 per barrel.

In a note, Barclays noted that the constructive oil price view is mainly due to slowing non-OPEC supply growth led by the U.S., coupled with continued underproduction from several OPEC+ producers. The supply deficit is likely to be at 670 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) in 2023, which may fall to 250 kb/d in 2024, it said.

Earlier in August, Saudi Arabia had announced its decision to extend its voluntary oil production cut of 1 million bpd to end-September this year. Furthermore, it hinted at either deepening the cut or extending it beyond September. Also, Russia had also decided to cut its oil exports by 300,000 bpd in September this year.

The U.S. tapping of strategic petroleum reserves and the country’s outreach to Venezuela and an informal agreement with Iran are likely to keep Brent crude prices in check. The report also cited efforts by G-7 nations to cap Russian export prices.