Brent oil price ends week at $103, analysts signal bottom

Brent crude oil futures end a bearish week down over $8 to $103 a barrel at close on Friday as oil prices followed stock markets lower, however some analysts believe that a bottom for the Brent contract is near.

Brent Oil Futures – Closing Price

ICE Brent crude oil futures for November 2011 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $103.96 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange, $8.16 lower than last week’s closing price of $112.12 a barrel.

Oil Price Forecast

The price of the Brent crude oil will not drop below $100 by the end of September, in spite of re-emerging fears of an approaching world economic recession, according to Mohammad Al-Shatti, a Kuwaiti analyst.

Mohammad Al-Shatti forecasts that Brent oil prices should move between $100 and $110 per barrel during September, noting that they could later drop further if an economic recession kicks in.

He attributed the recent slump of global oil prices to the weakness witnessed across global stock markets amid weak economic conditions.

Persistent oil supply shortfalls have kept Brent oil supported around $110 per barrel in 2011, even as the economic outlook in Europe and America darkens and the market prices an increasing risk of recession.

But the relative weakness of forward prices suggests most market participants expect the current tightness to prove temporary, gradually easing in the next 12 months.

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