EIA raises 2018 Brent price forecast by 4%

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) raised its 2018 price forecasts on Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, while also revising upwards its projections on US production, according to EIA’s monthly energy outlook report.

Brent crude is forecast to average $59.74 per barrel (bbl) in 2018, an increase of nearly 4 percent from December outlook. The benchmark grade is expected to average $61.43/bbl in 2019.

WTI crude oil spot prices are forecast to average $4/bbl less than Brent prices in both 2018 and 2019.

In the report, EIA also raised its 2018 US crude production outlook by more than 2.5 percent to average 10.3 million barrels per day (bpd), which would mark the highest annual average production in US history, the agency said.

The outlook on 2019 US output stood at an average of 10.8 million bpd, with the expectation that American production will surpass 11 million bpd in November 2019 —which could put the US output on par with Saudi Arabia and Russia.