By Christopher Alessi WSJ Thu., March 7, 2019 LONDON—Banks in February left their overall forecasts for oil prices in 2019 unchanged from January, even as they widely expected prices to rise through the first half of the year on the back of OPEC-led production curbs and geopolitical risks to global supply. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, is expected to continue to average over $67 a barrel in 2019, according to a poll of 11 investment banks conducted by The Wall Street Journal. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil standard, is expected to average nearly $60 a barrel this year, the poll showed. Both estimates are in line with last month’s bank forecasts. “Oil prices will gradually rise through Q3 on the back of producer supply cuts engaged by OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, alongside involuntary output reductions in countries that face supply risks like Venezuela, Libya or Nigeria,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity research at BNP Paribas. “The move up in oil prices is, however, predicated on macroeconomic risk tied to U.S.-China trade tensions remaining at bay,” he added. Brent rose 0.9% to $66.57 a barrel on Thursday morning while WTI was up 0.7% at $56.60 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 partner producers outside the oil-cartel, led by Russia, agreed late last year to collectively hold back crude output by 1.2 million barrels a day for the first half of this year, compared with October levels. OPEC agreed to handle 800,000 barrels… [Read full story]
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