Wall Street Banks Raise Oil Price Forecasts as Supply Fears Deepen

Brent Crude oil prices are set to end the year at about $105 per barrel, bank ANZ said on Friday as it hiked its projection by $10 a barrel on the assumption that Middle East oil exports, shipping availability, and fuel supplies will remain constrained through December. “The forecast does not require another geopolitical shock,” ANZ’s strategists wrote in a note carried by Bloomberg.

” Of course, any escalation in the Middle East would send oil prices even higher, the bank said. The world is out of buffers to curb new shocks, ANZ notes. “Eight months of adapting to disrupted Middle Eastern supply have materially weakened the buffers that absorbed the initial shock,” according to the bank’s strategists.