US revises down oil price forecasts for 2019

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The U.S.' Energy Information Administration (EIA) revised down its oil price forecasts for 2019, according to its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) for June.

The forecast for international benchmark Brent oil was lowered by $3 a barrel, and it is now expected to average $67 per barrel this year, according to the STEO that was released on Tuesday. The benchmark was estimated to average $70 a barrel for 2019, according to the EIA's May STEO.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was also lowered by $4 a barrel. WTI is now estimated to average $59 per barrel in 2019. The previous estimate for the benchmark was $63 a barrel for this year, according to the May STEO.

The downward revision "reflects rising uncertainty about global oil demand growth," the EIA said in its STEO for June.

"EIA expects global oil demand to grow by 1.2 million bpd in 2019, 0.2 million bpd lower than the May forecast," the report said.

- US crude production forecast revised down

The report also said that EIA revised down the U.S.' crude oil production forecast for both 2019 and 2020.

Crude output in the country is now estimated to average 12.32 mbpd in 2019, compared to the average 12.45 mbpd projected in the report for May.

For 2020, crude production in the U.S. is expected to average 13.26 mbpd, down from the previous forecast of 13.38 mbpd quoted in the May report.

The U.S.' output of crude rose to 11.7 mbpd in November 2018 to overtake Russia as the world's largest crude oil producer.

Crude oil production in the country increased to a new record high level of 12.4 mbpd for the week ending May 31, according to the EIA data.