US’ EIA raises forecast for Brent oil price to $40.52/bbl in 2016

MOSCOW, May 11 (PRIME) -- The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has raised its forecast for the average Brent oil price in 2016 to U.S. $40.52 per barrel from $34.73 per barrel projected in April, the EIA said late Tuesday.

The forecast for 2017 was raised to $50.65 per barrel from $40.58 per barrel.

“Improving economic data, growing supply disruptions, and falling U.S. crude oil production and rig counts contributed to the price increase,” the EIA said.

The EIA has also raised its forecast for the average WTI oil price to $40.32 per barrel in 2016 from $34.60 per barrel projected in April and believes that in 2017, the average prices of WTI and Brent will be equal.

The EIA has kept its forecast for the U.S. average oil output at 8.6 million barrels a day in 2016 and increased the 2017 forecast to 8.2 million barrels a day from 8 million barrels expected in April.

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