The agency also lowered the forecast of daily oil production in the country by 100 thousand barrels.
The U.S. Department of Energy slightly lowered the forecast for the cost of Brent crude oil in 2022 – from $103.37 to $103.35 per barrel, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy.
The agency expects that Brent oil quotes in the second quarter of 2022 will average at $107 per barrel, and in the second half of the year will drop to $ 103 per barrel. “We expect that in 2023 the average Brent price will fall to $97 per barrel,” the report says.
The price of WTI crude oil is projected at $98.2 per barrel in 2022 and $93.2 per barrel in 2023.
At the same time, the department emphasizes that this price forecast is “extremely uncertain.” Oil quotes depend on how sanctions against Russia will affect the level of its production and the volume of Russian oil supplies to the world market, the U.S. Department of Energy explains.
At the same time, the ministry emphasizes that the current forecast was made before the EU countries announced the possibility of imposing an embargo on oil supplies from Russia. “Nevertheless, the embargo is likely to lead to a more scarce state of the oil market and higher prices than in our forecast,” experts of the U.S. Department of Energy admit.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy lowered the forecast of daily oil production in the United States in 2022 by 100 thousand barrels to 11.91 million barrels per day. The expected production volumes in 2023 also decreased by 100 thousand barrels to 12.85 million barrels per day, which could become an absolute record for the level of oil production in the United States.
