Goldman Sachs Lowers Crude Oil Price Forecast
February 13, 2023
Crude oil and refined fuel product prices rose on Friday, which was driven by news that Russia plans to cut 500,000 bpd of oil output in March. It appears Russia is willing to reduce oil and product output rather than reduce their prices. The EU has placed bans and price caps on oil and recently on refined fuel product prices on February 5th, which appear to be working to reduce output.
Baker Hughes reported that 10 crude oil rigs came online for the week ending February 3rd. This is most likely due to freeze offs from the prior week.
The EIA reported on Wednesday a rise in crude oil, gasoline, and distillate stocks across the board as a rise in US crude oil production. Crude stocks were up 2.4 million barrels, gasoline stocks up 5 million barrels and distillates rose 2.9 million barrels.
In a monthly report Goldman Sachs lowered its price forecast to $92 from $98 for Brent crude oil in 2023 and lowered its price forecast for 2024 Brent crude oil to $100 down from $105. They lowered their WTI crude oil forecast down to $86 from $92 for 2023 and down to $94 for 2024 from $99. This adjustment was mainly driven by world economic slowdowns and Russia oil output high.