Crude oil futures prices for February delivery dropped more than $2/bbl on the New York market for the Jan. 12 settlement after Goldman Sachs lowered its oil-price forecasts.
Goldman Sachs said US light, sweet crude oil would average $50.40/bbl for 2015, down from its previous forecast of $83.75/bbl. Analysts also cut their Brent forecast to $70/bbl from $90/bbl.
UAE Oil Minister Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei said Jan. 13 that OPEC will continue to maintain its production quota for OPEC members at 30 million b/d regardless of current oil prices.
“We have seen the oversupply, coming primarily from shale oil, and that needed to be corrected,” he said during an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.
UAE remains “concerned” about the balance in the oil market but “cannot under any circumstances be the only party responsible,” Mazrouei said, adding that he believes escalating US shale oil production cannot be sustained at the current oil price.
Energy prices
The NYMEX February crude oil contract declined $2.29 on Jan. 12, closing at $46.07/bbl. The March contract dropped $2.23 to $46.76/bbl.
The natural gas contract for February declined 15¢ to a rounded $2.79/MMbtu. The cash gas price at Henry Hub, La., fell 5¢ to $2.90/MMbtu on Jan. 12.
Heating oil for February was down a rounded 4.9¢ to $1.65/gal. Reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenate blending for February fell a rounded 4.9¢ to $1.27/gal.
The February ICE contract for Brent crude oil dropped $2.68 to $47.43/bbl. The March contract fell $2.60 to $48.70/bbl. The ICE gas oil contract for January was unchanged at $469/tonne.
The average price for OPEC’s basket of 12 benchmark crudes on Jan. 12 was $43.55/bbl, down $1.64 from the previous day.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
*Paula Dittrick is editor of OGJ’s Unconventional Oil & Gas Report.
