‘New age’ for oil prompts Citi to raise 2017 forecast to $65
By Sara Sjolin – Published: May 24, 2016 6:25 a.m. ET
Commodities have finally turned a corner, say strategists
The worst is over for the beaten-down oil market, as a slowdown in production is setting prices up for a steeper rebound than predicted at the beginning of the year, Citigroup has said.
In a note out on Tuesday, the Wall Street bank said fundamentals in the oil sector are tightening much faster than it forecast just five months ago. The shift is being driven particularly by a slide in production from countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, it said.
“Commodities markets appear to have turned the corner and, led by the petroleum market, are accelerating their price recovery from the lows of the last year,” Citi’s strategists said in the note, titled “Let the Sunshine in as Commodities Enter New Age of Aquarius.”
“While the price increases experienced since early 1Q remain subject to the ‘new normal’ of relatively high volatility, it appears there is no turning back any time soon,” said the strategists, who included Edward Morse.
Citi said it now sees Brent oil LCON6, +0.35% — the global benchmark — reaching $50 a barrel in the third quarter of 2016, “if not earlier,” before climbing to around $65 by the end of 2017. That’s compared with a previous forecast that prices would not touch the $50 handle until the fourth quarter and would end 2017 at $60 a barrel.
The bank forecasts West Texas Intermediate crude CLN6, +0.58% will hit $50 by the end of 2016 and $61 by year-end 2017. Brent traded at $48.11 a barrel on Tuesday, while crude was at $47.92.
“After a bumpy 2015, with a persistent crude oil supply excess of some 1.5-million barrels a day, supply-versus-demand dynamics are at work and look likely to push the crude oil sector into equilibrium by midyear and deficit for much of the next six quarters,” the strategists said.
Brent and crude prices slumped 35% and 30%, respectively, in 2015 and dipped to 12-year lows in February this year. Since then, both contracts have staged remarkable comebacks, with Brent up 77% and crude more than 80% higher. A slowdown in production outside OPEC members, as well as severe supply disruptions in Nigeria, Libya and Canada have been key factors in helping prices rebound.
“The decline in prices from over $100 to under $30 from 2014 to this past January is finally having a clear impact in reducing corporate spending globally and with that worsening production declines,” the Citi strategists said.
Citi’s more upbeat view on the oil sector echoes an assessment by rival Goldman Sachs from last week. The bank — known for being among biggest oil bears — said an oversupplied oil market has finally taken a turn for the better because of a “sudden halt to the oil market surplus”.
A supply glut in the market is seen as the key reason oil prices started slumping in the summer of 2014. A few months into the selloff, oil producing nations and investors were looking to OPEC to work as a swing producer again and cut production to stabilize the market. However, the cartel — largely directed by kingpin Saudi Arabia — signaled a shift in strategy, stopping short of a production cut and leaving it to market forces to balance supply.
The OPEC strategy shift is also one of the main reasons Citi predicts oil markets will stay volatile.
“While Citi has a 65% or so confidence in this price path, the brave new world of petroleum promises to be volatile,” its strategists said.
They pointed to four factors that will “guarantee” prices continue to fluctuate: Aside from Saudi Arabia’s impact on OPEC strategy, the other three include U.S. shale production, fragile governance in oil-dependant nations and computer-driven trading.
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