Goldman Sachs cut its average 2025 Brent forecast and range for prices by $5 per barrel saying unexpected increases in oil inventories and slow China demand is likely to weigh on the market.
The bank reduced its range for Brent prices to $70-$85 a barrel, and 2025 average Brent forecast to $77 per barrel from $82, it said in a note on Monday.
U.S. liquids supply is beating expectations on ongoing efficiency gains and China demand growth has slowed on structural road fuel switching and on petrochemical demand weakness, Goldman Sachs said.
However, India demand, lower interest rates and a normalization in valuation should limit downward price pressure, it added.
In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut next year’s global oil demand growth forecast to 1.78 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.85 million bpd previously expected.
“We still assume that OPEC will raise production in fourth quarter as the market is potentially shifting from an equilibrium where OPEC supports spot balances and reduces volatility to a more long-run equilibrium focused on strategically disciplining non-OPEC supply and supporting cohesion,” Goldman said.
OPEC+, which groups OPEC and allies such as Russia, has implemented a series of output cuts since late 2022 to support the market, most of which are in place until the end of 2025.
On Aug. 1, OPEC+ confirmed a plan to start unwinding the most recent layer of cuts of 2.2 million bpd from October, with the caveat that it could be paused or reversed if needed.
Oil prices paused their recent advances, receding on Tuesday after surging more than 7% in the previous three sessions on supply concerns prompted by fears of a wider Middle East conflict and the shutdown of Libyan oil fields.
(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Lincoln Feast.)