The price of oil continues to ricochet with every market twinge and political riposte, generally maintaining a downward trend at present.
The first weeks of 2016 saw oil prices reach a new nadir of late as they fell to below $30 per barrel in early January – it’s lowest value since 2004. Concerns over both fresh Iranian supplies and continued turmoil in Chinese demand drove US crude down even further, compounding the drastic slide throughout last year.
The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on 12th January, which is the first STEO to include projections for 2017, forecasts the sluggish scenario in oil prices to continue. It projects that Brent crude oil prices will average $40 per barrel in 2016 and $50 per barrel in 2017.
Such modest expectations are hardly likely to warm the hearts of those affected by the current slump. But are they really that surprising?
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