Brent oil price forecast 2019-2022

Brent crude oil is forecast to have an average annual price of 62.28 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2021 and decline to 60.49 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2022. While these prices would be above the drop seen in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, they are still below pre-pandemic levels.

All about Brent

Also known as Brent Blend, London Brent, and Brent petroleum, Brent Crude is a crude oil benchmark named after the exploration site in the Brent oilfield in the North Sea. It is a sweet light crude oil but slightly heavier than West Texas Intermediate. In this context, sweet refers to a low sulfur content, and light refers to a relatively low density, when compared to other crude oil benchmarks.

Price development in the 2010s

Oil prices are volatile, impacted by consumer demand and discoveries of new oilfields, new extraction methods such as fracking, and production caps routinely placed by OPEC on its member states. The price for Brent crude oil stood at an average of 64.3 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2019. Annual average prices were the highest on record in 2013, at 108.56 U.S. dollars per barrel. Prices fell to some 41.69 U.S. dollars per barrel due to the afore-mentioned coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 oil crisis comes just four years after the 2016 oil glut, which brought Brent Crude’s average 2016 price to 43.74 U.S. dollars per barrel.