ConocoPhillips Chairman Ryan Lance said on Monday he expects the oil price floor to rise to around $70 per barrel and sees a mid-cycle price of $65 to $70 per barrel for the US West Texas Intermediate crude benchmark.
The global oil system bent, but didn’t break, due to this year’s Middle East conflict, Lance told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday.
US oil production could exceed 14 million to 14.5 million barrels per day if oil prices remain around current levels, he said.
It could take until 2028 or 2029 for global oil demand to recover from the current crisis, with nothing to stop demand from continuing to grow thereafter, he said.
“The real strategic question for companies like mine is where is the conventional (production) going to come from to satisfy that growing demand,” Lance said, adding that ConocoPhillips is currently more focused on upstream rather than midstream oil investments.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Shadia Nasralla, Robert Harvey and Anushree Mukherjee in London, Editing by Louise Heavens and Joe Bavier)