February 8th,2022

This bulletin is written by ESPE students. The content and views

expressed in this document reflect only the opinion of the authors and not
of the School.

upward trend in oil prices

Geopolitical tensions and a growing dispa-
rity between supply and demand have
driven up prices. Brent crude touched $90
per barrel briefly this week for the first time
ESPE STUDENT ENERGY
the physical oil demand has proven stron-
ger than previously expected in its latest
Oil Market Report. Based on this surpri-
sing turn of events, the IEA revised up its

in years. This latest surge was attributed to
tensions around Ukraine, but this is the
most transitory reason for oil price rises.
The overall reasons boil down to funda-
mentals. And $90 per barrel of Brent may
be only the beginning. JP Morgan earlier
this month warned that Brent could rise to
$125 per barrel as OPEC's spare production
capacity falls to 4 percent of total capacity
by the fourth quarter of 2022.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the
U.S. oil benchmark, gained more than 2%
to trade as high as $91.92 per barrel. The
last time prices were above the $90
threshold was October 2014. Brent crude
futures rose 1.7% to trade at $92. Brent
topped $90 on Jan. 26. Oil’s had a bliste-
BULLETIN
2022 oil demand forecast by 200,000 bpd.
Even with this estimate, oil demand will
not only return to pre-pandemic levels but
exceed them, reaching 99.7 million bpd by
the end of the year.
The pandemic depressed energy prices in
2020, even sending the U.S. benchmark oil
price below zero for the first time ever. But
prices have recovered faster and stron-
ger,Oil price, today, from January to
February 2022 is dancing a symphony of
highest prices as shown in below graph.

ring rally since falling to record lows in

April 2020. WTI briefly traded in negative
territory, as demand has returned but
producers have kept supply in check. Geo-
political tensions between Russia and
Ukraine as well as in the Middle East have
also sent jitters through the market.

As oil prices push higher, a number of Wall

Street analysts have forecasted $100 as the
closest hit. According to the International
Energy Agency, Source : https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil