|
Brent and U.S. crude are near their lowest since
April 2009, having fallen for seven straight weeks on a growing
supply glut.
The February Brent contract was down $1.33 at $48.78 a barrel at
1220 GMT. U.S. crude oil for February was down $1.20 at $47.16
per barrel.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs cut their three-month forecasts for
Brent to $42 a barrel from $80 and for the U.S. West Texas
Intermediate contract to $41 from $70 a barrel. The bank cut its
2015 Brent forecast to $50.40 a barrel from $83.75 and U.S.
crude to $47.15 a barrel from $73.75.
Despite declining investments in U.S. shale oil, the main driver
in the current supply glut, production will take longer to come
down, Goldman said in a report.
"To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale
until the market has rebalanced, we believe prices need to stay
lower for longer," the analysts said.
Speaking to Reuters Global Oil Forum, Commerzbank analyst
Carsten Fritsch said he expected output cuts to start impacting
prices in the second half of 2015.
"At some point market participants will realize that a lot of
oil will leave the market if prices stay low," Fritsch said.
As OPEC's November decision not to curtail production in the
face of falling prices piles pressure on some group members,
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met Saudi Arabia's Crown
Prince Salman in Riyadh on Sunday as part of a diplomatic tour
in the Gulf to discuss falling oil prices.
However, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has
said it won't support prices by cutting production and ignored
calls from smaller OPEC members, including Venezuela, to react
to falling oil prices at the cartel's November meeting.
On Saturday Iran vowed to help Venezuela stem the oil price
fall.
(Additional reporting by Jacob Pederson; Editing by Michael
Urquhart and David Evans)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
