Oil Glut Will Persist Into 2017- Experts

The current fall in the prices of oil in the international market is expected to persist into year 2017, despite current efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to rally round other oil producing nations in order to ensure improvement in prices, experts have predicted. The President, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, has been engaging in shuttle diplomacy tŕying to rally other members of OPEC.

According to the International Energy Agency, IEA, the global oil glut will persist into 2017, limiting any chance of a price rebound in the short term as the surplus takes even longer to clear than previously estimated, according to the International Energy Agency.

Read also: Low oil prices, in final analysis, good for Nigeria

While U.S. shale oil production will retreat this year and next as the price slump hits drilling, its subsequent recovery will ensure America remains the biggest source of new supply to 2021. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will expand its market share slightly this decade, with Iran, newly released from international sanctions, displacing Iraq as the organization’s biggest contributor to supply growth.

“Only in 2017 will we finally see oil supply and demand aligned but the enormous stocks being accumulated will act as a dampener on the pace of recovery in oil prices,” the Paris-based adviser to 29 countries said in its medium-term report Monday. “It is hard to see oil prices recovering significantly in the short term from the low levels prevailing.”

The IEA’s new outlook is the latest sign that oil forecasters are bracing for a “lower-for-longer” price environment. The agency acknowledged that the industry’s expectations — and its own predictions — that oil markets would recover in 2015 proved “very wide of the mark.” The report also signals that while OPEC will succeed in its policy of defending market share, the group will have to endure an extended period of reduced revenues.

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