Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Oil’s gains will accelerate in the second half of this year with prices averaging $85 a barrel for Brent crude in 2015, Standard Chartered Plc forecast.

Rising U.S. production will slow in April, helping to balance supply with strengthening demand in the final six months this year, Marios Maratheftis, Standard Chartered’s global head of research, said at a conference in Dubai. Brent has averaged $53.56 a barrel so far in 2015.

Standard Chartered’s outlook contrasts with Barclays Plc’s forecast that prices are set to weaken in the “near future,” while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week stuck with its call of $39 for New York oil which is trading at $49.70 a barrel Monday.

“Oil prices will begin to rebound sustainably in the second half of the year,” Maratheftis said.

Brent has advanced 3.2 percent this year on speculation slowing drilling in the U.S. will curb output. Demand is improving amid signs prices are stabilizing, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on Feb. 12, citing Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.

Lower oil prices are helping economic growth in countries such as the U.S. and India, Maratheftis said. U.S. growth will be 3.1 percent this year, the most since 2005, according to economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg. India’s economy will expand 5.5 percent, the estimates show.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided Nov. 27 to leave its production target unchanged, leaving other suppliers to cut back. Brent is $59.16 a barrel, after trading as high as $115.71 a barrel in June.