As oil has dipped under $80 a barrel so far this January, already the analysts and economists are looking ahead to the rest of the year and predicting oil price rises.
Analysts at UBS and Bank of America think that the price will peak at $110 a barrel this year. Major producers could move to provide support for oil prices by cutting production.
UBS estimates that oil demand will rise by 1.6 million barrels a day (mbpd) this year and exceed the record of 103 mbpd. The opening of China post the end of their zero covid policy will drive demand in the second part of this year.
Some other analysis, by economists at Capital Economics, sees Brent crude decline to $70 per barrel before rising by year's end to $85 - basically that analysis is saying that we will be entering a period of global recession this year.
To put a quote on that: “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable”, so wrote the great economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
