INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Standard Chartered raised its 2019 price outlook by $13 with Brent oil seen averaging $75 a barrel
Standard Chartered on Tuesday raised its 2018 crude oil price
forecasts by $10 saying that the market has began to acknowledge the importance of OPEC-led production cuts.The British bank, which revised
its forecasts for the first time in almost a year, saw Brent and WTI crude prices averaging $71 a barrel and $68 a barrel respectively this
year.It also raised its 2019 price outlook by $13 with Brent oil seen averaging $75 a barrel and WTI $71."OPEC and its non-OPEC partners are
now receiving greater acknowledgment for market discipline, views of shale oil economics are no longer the most important price-setting
factor, and demand pessimism is significantly reduced," the bank said.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC
producers led by Russia have agreed to cap output by about 1.8 million bpd in a deal running from January last year until the end of
2018.OPEC oil output fell in March to an 11-month low due to declining Angolan exports, Libyan outages and a further slide in Venezuelan
output, a Reuters survey found earlier this month, sending compliance with a supply-cutting deal to another record.Oil prices were little
changed on Tuesday after Brent hit its highest level since November 2014, supported by strong demand, OPEC-led production cuts, and the
waiver on certain sanctions on Iran not be renewed in May, we are likely to roll our forecast back to where it was two years ago, to $75 per
