Peak oil leaves the spotlight as global economic uncertainty rules oil prices

Peak oil theories over the last few years are now not in the spotlight that rules over oil prices this year as the new king of market movers, the “global economic uncertainty” looks set to be a game changer in the coming months ahead.

IEA Oil Report 2012

The latest Monthly Oil Market Report from the US IEA (International Energy Agency) forecasts the call on OPEC crude in 2012 at 30.2 million barrels per day. It also forecasts global oil demand will average 90.3 million barrels per day in 2012, an increase of 1.3 million over 2011.

However, the crude oil markets are expected to remain volatile throughout 2012, with the fundamentals of oil supply and demand continuing to take a back seat to the debt situation in Europe and tensions in the Middle East, with Iran in the driving seat.

“Given already very low European crude inventories, a spate of precautionary buying and escalating tensions surrounding the Iranian issue could sustain prompt prices at levels higher than otherwise, amid the growing concerns about the euro zone and weaker global economic activity for 2012.” the IEA said on 12th December.

Iran and Oil Supplies

Turning to oil supplies, the Iranian oil issue remains unclear, as the USA and its allies along with the EU are considering new sanctions on the Iranian oil as we know which increase fears that it will curb the oil supply, which will push oil prices to the upside strongly, and from the Iranian side, it said that if any sanctions happened, it will stop oil passing from the Strait of Hormuz.

European Debt

Back to Europe which remained for the past year the main factor that drive global markets, as the crisis is deepening and contagion risks are appearing, where many negative consequences can be noticed, however, hopes increased at the beginning of the year that serious measures would be implemented to halt the crisis’ train.

US Dollar and Oil Prices

On the other hand, the US dollar is encouraging crude oil to continue this upside journey, as it declined at the beginning of the year due to different factors. The ICE US Dollar Index opened the session at 80.27 and recorded a high of 80.29 then it declined to reach so far a low of 79.88, and is currently trading around 79.95.

In general, trading volumes remain mightily low, which give space for any minor factor to affect crude heavily and give it momentum, where fluctuations may be evident ahead of the American data which may add positive signs for the world’s largest economy.

Source

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• IEA warns high oil prices threaten global economy (thehindu.com)
• Too many wild cards cloud 2012 oil price outlook (business.financialpost.com)
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