Adding to the current support oil prices received from the recent calls by Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid Al-Falih for an extension of global oil output quotas beyond 2018, the recently published World Economic Outlook by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has further supported oil prices to edge up, allowing Brent Crude to touch the $70/bbl threshold once again.
In its 2018 World Economic Outlook, the IMF revised upward its global growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 percent for both 2018 and 2019. The revision reflects an increased global growth momentum. A positive growth outlook for 2018 and 2019 means an expected growth in demand for oil and hikes the investment incentives in the crude market as well. IMF sees brighter Prospects and optimistic markets, as well as challenges ahead, but the overall outlook for this year and next year is quite positive according to IMF.
Driven by such positive sentiments, oil prices traded on the green on Tuesday and Wednesday and were up by 1 percent. Once again, Brent crude is currently traded around $70/bbl. The market is currently awaiting EIA’s data on U.S. crude oil inventories and oil production, and based on this data, the positive momentum could continue or oil prices could slightly fall.
