The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday forecast that U.S. crude oil production will average 10.7 million barrels per day in 2018, up from 9.4 million barrels per day in 2017, and will average 11.8 million barrels per day in 2019.
In its latest Short-Term-Energy-Outlook (STEO), EIA also estimated that U.S. crude oil production averaged 11.1 million barrels per day in September, up slightly from August levels.
According to the outlook, Brent crude oil spot prices will average 74 U.S. dollars a barrel in 2018 and 75 dollars a barrel in 2019.
EIA estimated Brent crude oil spot prices averaged 79 dollars a barrel in September, up 6 dollars from August.
Meanwhile, EIA expected West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about 6 dollars a barrel, lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019.
NYMEX WTI futures and options contract values for January 2019 delivery that traded during the five-day period ending Oct. 4 suggest a range of 60 dollars a barrel to 93 dollars a barrel, encompassing the market expectation for January WTI prices at the 95 percent confidence level. Enditem
