Oil prices rose to the highest level since October 2014. Analysts believe that they will exceed $100 per barrel this year

Oil prices rose to the highest level since October 2014. This is evidenced by the data of the exchanges.

Thus, the cost of March futures for Brent crude on the London ICE Futures exchange exceeded $87 per barrel. The price of February futures for WTI crude at the New York Mercantile Exchange is $84.92 per barrel.

One of the reasons for the rise in prices is the growing geopolitical tension, analysts point out. On the eve it became known about the strike of drones on the territory of the United Arab Emirates, as a result of which three people were killed. Yemeni Houthi rebels have been blamed by the UAE authorities for carrying out the strikes. The attack resulted in an explosion that damaged three oil tanks in Abu Dhabi.

“This is all part of an upward trend that took shape last year,” Energy Development Fund director Sergei Pikin told The Insider. “The pandemic has receded, the OPEC+ agreement is working effectively, demand is growing and the demand imbalance has come to naught, at least on such a large scale. The occupancy of storage facilities for oil has gone below the long-term average. This trend was somewhat interrupted by the Omicron strain, but so far it has not affected demand as much as the Delta. There are also political factors, but they are temporary. Drones attacked Saudi Arabia in 2019 as well, when prices rose to $80 per barrel,” the expert noted.

Goldman Sachs expects Brent to rise to $100 per barrel in the third quarter of 2022. According to the bank’s analysts, global factors will lead to this: a shortage of supply and limited reserves in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“Under certain factors, the price of $100 per barrel can be reached even earlier than in the third quarter,” Sergei Pikin notes. “But there is still uncertainty about the epidemiological situation. Maybe after the “omicron” another strain will appear, but for now the trend is on the rise, and prices will try to break through the level of $90 per barrel,” the expert is sure.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs raised their Brent price forecast for the third and fourth quarters of 2022 by $20 per barrel. The forecast for the average cost of Brent for the whole of 2022 has been increased to $96 per barrel from $81 per barrel, for 2023 – to $105 per barrel from $85 per barrel.