Oil Price Forecast Majorly Revised at Fitch

Fitch Solutions Macro Research (FSMR) analysts have made a “major downward revision” to their Brent oil price forecasts, the company’s latest outlook report has revealed.

The analysts now expect prices to average $67 per barrel this year, $65 per barrel in 2020 and $61 per barrel in 2021. This compares to FSMR’s previous forecasts of $70 per barrel in 2019, $76 per barrel in 2020 and $80 per barrel in 2021.

“The revision reflects a deteriorating economic outlook and a sharper than expected slowdown in oil demand,” FSMR analysts stated in the report, which was sent to Rigzone on Tuesday.

“Tight market management by OPEC and Russia, coupled with a steep decline in exports from Venezuela and Iran, have failed to revive prices and upwards of three million barrels per day of supply is now sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a point of re-entry,” the analysts added.

The Bloomberg consensus, which was highlighted in the report, forecasted that Brent would average $67.7 per barrel in 2019, $67.8 per barrel in 2020 and $67.5 per barrel in 2021.

Back in May, analysts at FSMR saw the price of Brent averaging $73 per barrel this year. In March the analysts lowered their average annual price forecast for Brent for 2019 from $75 per barrel to $73 per barrel.

Last month, Abhishek Kumar, head of analytics at Interfax Energy in London, revealed that Interfax Global Gas Analytics was forecasting that Brent will average $68 per barrel this year. Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president of macro oils at Wood Mackenzie, revealed back in June that the company was projecting Brent to average $68 per barrel in 2019.