Brent edges to $80 a barrel; reaching fresh highs since November 2014

Reported by CNBC, the US bank Morgan Stanley said that “it had raised its forecast for prices to $90 per barrel by the year 2020, due to an anticipated increase in demand and current measures in place to tighten supply.”

On Thursday’s session, Brent Crude Futures were at 79.32 per barrel, positive by 4 cents from their last closing.

The day range of Brent Crude lied between 79.22 – 79.46 per barrel. The current prices show a change of about 50 percent in during the year.

According to CNBC oil report, energy expert, Dan Yergin states that “oil prices could rise to $85 a barrel by the end of July.” Major reasons for the uptick in oil prices are declining output in Venezuela and Middle East tensions amid the looming Iranian sanctions.

Different analyst reports anticipate demand to fall after oil touches $80-100 per barrel. They also stated in the report that rapid increase in prices will lead to an increase in inflation and create pressure on the interest rates across the globe.

US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was at $71.68 a barrel, up by 19 cents from the previous close. The day range of WTI crude was between $71.49 – 71.86 per barrel up 42.27 percent.

During the last six months Brent benchmark has spiked to $79.26 from $63.57 a barrel.

OPEC led supply cuts have been the major factor for rise in demand of oil and subsequently raising the global oil prices. OPEC and participating members have cut oil production by 1.8 million barrel per day over the past two years and will continue this strategy until the end of 2018 or may be beyond that. The major reason behind this strategy is to bring the global oil storage numbers down to five years average.

Some analysts, however do not share the bullish view on the market, anticipating a dip in global oil demand as prices go beyond $80 a barrel.