“In light of prices already falling towards US$30 without the increase in Iranian crude, it would seem that US$20 is a possibility,” Phillip Futures analyst Daniel Ang said to the reporter of Channel News Asia.
As crude oil prices slide further to 12-year lows this week, market watchers are slashing their price forecasts yet again, with some predicting US$20 a barrel becoming a distinct possibility.
Analysts at the likes of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this week lowered their oil price assumptions for 2016 to the US$20 level, while Standard Chartered was the most bearish with a call for oil to tumble as low as US$10 a barrel.
As of Wednesday’s early Asian trade, US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) traded at US$30.88 a barrel, nudging up slightly from Tuesday’s intra-day low of US$29.93 which was last seen in December 2003. Meanwhile, Brent crude traded at US$31.20 a barrel, after bottoming at US$30.34 on Tuesday.
Year-to-date, oil prices have lost nearly 17 per cent and are about 70 per cent lower from their peak in June 2014.
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