SPIEF participants expect oil price in $65-$80 range in coming years
ST. PETERSBURG. June 18 (Interfax) - The price of oil in the medium-term outlook will be in the range $65-$80 per barrel, subsequently returning to the $100 per barrel level, participants in the oil and gas session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum said.
"I believe that $75-$80 is that price that would suit both producers and consumers in a year," Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov said.
"We understand that in order to make up declines in capacity, production in 5-10 years, investment must be made now. Low prices lead to underinvestment. The longer this lasts, the greater the probability that prices shoot up to $100-$110 per barrel. In the long term, the price will return to the $100 per barrel level," Dyukov said.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said that in the near term, the price would be "$79 plus or minus $10 a barrel."
Energy Minister Alexander Novak had a lower forecast than that. "It seems to me that the current possibilities of the market are such that given a balance between supply and demand, the price will be at the $65 per barrel level for Brent in the coming two-three years," Novak said.
