Analyst Does Not Expect $100 Oil Anytime Soon

Oil prices continue the trend of slowly climbing higher, with West Texas Crude trading around $73 per barrel in Monday’s action. This after oil prices hit levels last week not seen since October 2018. Oil prices have increased 51% in 2021, and the expectation is that trend will continue in the months ahead.

“Recovery and demand are starting to come back," noted CNBC analyst Manisha Gupta. "The pent up demand is starting to come back, as we have seen economies open up in China, in Europe and in the U.S.  The Indian COVID cases continue to decline and the markets believe the demand recovery will start from here as well.  Another thing is the fall in global inventories.  There is a belief by the 3^rd and 4^th quarters of this year, we will have a considerable decline in global inventories, so much so that before this year ends, we will be hitting pre-pandemic levels as far as the inventories go.”

While Gupta expects prices to continue to move higher, she does not feel oil above $100 a barrel is on the horizon anytime soon. She said with the possibility of OPEC increasing output by 500,000 barrels per day in August, and the ongoing battle between fossil fuel and green energy investment, she does not anticipate oil prices hitting the century mark in 2021.

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