Dec
08
Brent at $40 Leaves Oil Forecasters Playing Catchup Again
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First-quarter estimates are about $10 above current prices
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Forecasters have consistently lagged the decline in crude
Forecasters have spent more than a year playing catch-up with the oil price. After OPECeffectively abandoned crude-output limits last week, another round may be overdue.
As Brent crude futures crashed through $40 a barrel Tuesday for the first time in almost seven years, analysts were still predicting average prices of $51 in the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. With Iran planning to boost output by about 500,000 barrels a day, record oil stockpiles continuing to expand and El Nino damping demand for heating fuel in the Northern Hemisphere, there are several reasons to expect such a recovery isn’t imminent…