WTI oil trading over $111, IMF joins the peak oilers party

8 April 2011 8 April 2011

BonTrade

WTI oil futures open Friday’s trading session over $111 a barrel and oil prices are at new 2011 highs, as the IMF joins the peak oilers party with a message that the global economy was entering a period of scarcer oil that could drive prices up rapidly.

Latest WTI Oil Price

US Light crude oil futures for May 2011 delivery was trading at $111.22 a barrel, 06.50 GMT this morning in electronic trading on the NYMEX. WTI oil futures closed yesterday’s trading session at $110.29, a new 2011 high.

The new analysis by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) said that market tensions were increasing between growing demand for oil from fast growing emerging market economies, like China, and production constraints due to maturing oil fields.

“There is a risk that the tensions between oil demand and supply trends could intensify again and prices could rise rapidly.” said Thomas Helbling, an advisor to the IMF’s Research Department and author of the report.

“The increases in the trend component of oil prices suggest that the global oil market has entered a period of increased scarcity.” the IMF said in initial chapters of its World Economic Outlook report, which will be released in full on Monday.

IMF Warns on $150 Plus Oil Prices

The IMF said if tensions between oil demand and supply factors intensified there could be price spikes rivaling the 2008 price surge that drove crude oil futures to nearly $150 a barrel.

Basically, the IMF report suggests that oil demand is going to be higher than oil supply, otherwise know a the peak oil theory.