The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, says Nigeria expects oil prices to be above $45 a barrel next year.
“Our firm belief is that in 2016, we will probably average above the $45 a barrel price range,”
This statement is quite bullish from the Minister, considering the diverging views most analysts, observers and government officials from other countries see where oil price is heading.
For example, Russia’s deputy finance minister, Maxim Oreshkin, says he expects oil to sell for no more than $40 to $60 per barrel for the next seven years, and that Moscow is adjusting its budget planning accordingly, given that half the country’s annual budget relies on revenues from oil and gas sales.
“In our estimates, one should hardly expect any serious growth of the oil price above $50,” Oreshkin told a breakfast forum hosted by Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
“Therefore we see a range from $40 to $60 somewhere for the next seven years,” Oreshkin said.
Venezuela’s national budget for next year assumes a price of $40 when its own crude is trading at just above $30. The nation’s dollar reserves have fallen by 32 percent this year to $14.6 billion.
On the Possibility of the Oil Price getting to $20?
That’s a distinct possibility, according to Trafigura Pte Ltd., the world’s third-biggest independent oil trader. “I don’t think we have reached the bottom of the cycle yet,” Christophe Salmon, chief financial officer at Trafigura, told Bloomberg.
