Analysts at Goldman Sachs have revised their forecast for Brent – they now expect Brent prices to rise to $100 by December, not mid-year. The forecast for the average price of oil this year has been lowered to $92 from the previously expected $98.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs has revised its forecast for the price of Brent oil – it now expects it to reach $100 per barrel by December 2023, rather than mid-year, reports Bloomberg. On average, Brent will cost $92 a barrel in 2023, rather than the $98 they previously expected, according to the bank’s analysts’ forecast.

“This revision reflects a moderate softening of our forecast for 2023,” Goldman Sachs’ analyst team said in a note.

Brent crude price rise – reasons

Goldman Sachs experts believe China’s economic recovery due to softening COVID-19 policies will lead to shortages in oil markets by June this year and “reveal structural underinvestment” in the industry. Also, OPECcountries are likely to increase production in the second half of 2023 to balance supply and demand, analysts added.

Back in January, Goldman Sachs allowed the Brent price to rise to $110 by the third quarter of 2023 if China’s coronavirus restrictions were fully lifted. Beijing began to wind down a policy of zero tolerance for COVID-19 in early December after mass protests.

UBS analysts, in turn, predicted the growth of Brent to $110 a barrel in the second half of 2023. According to them, the energy problems of 2022 (for example, the redirection of Russian supplies and the chronic underinvestment in the oil industry) will be relevant this year, but unlike last year, when most coal prices rose, in 2023 it will be oil.

The optimistic forecast by Goldman Sachs contradicts the expectations of experts at Citigroup, writes Bloomberg. Analysts of the latter believe that the market is well supplied and the cost of Brent is likely to fall by another $10 per barrel by the end of 2023. As of 16:58 Moscow time on February 10, Brent cost $85.73 per barrel, adding 1.46%. Oil is rising in price on Friday amid news that Russia will cut production by 500,000 bpd in March, Reuters writes.

Earlier we reported that the founder of Andurand Capital predicted oil at $140 per barrel.