Higher production from OPEC and Russia, compared with the first half of this year, probably put downward pressure on crude oil prices in recent weeks, and the EIA expects Brent crude oil spot prices to fall towards $70 per barrel by the end of 2018, as the market appears to be fairly balanced in the coming months."

"Even though EIA sees oil prices continuing to moderate in the coming months, global oil inventories are below five-year average levels and OPEC spare capacity is low, which could contribute to price volatility and possible price increases if supply disruptions occur."

"The August short-term outlook estimates that U.S. crude oil production held steady just under 11 million barrels per day in July. We’re expecting production to rise by about 1 million barrels per day in the coming year, with production almost reaching 12 million by the end of next year."

Natural gas

"With U.S. natural gas production rising to record levels this year, prices will likely be lower than they would be otherwise, against a backdrop of low inventory levels and increased demand from the power sector."

"Continuing developments in natural gas, including drilling productivity improvements and new infrastructure, factored into EIA’s August forecast for U.S. dry natural gas production, which we currently expect will exceed 84 billion cubic feet per day for all of 2019."

"U.S. natural gas exports are poised to reach record levels in 2018 and 2019. EIA’s August forecast expects new pipelines to Mexico will help push pipeline exports in 2018 to nearly 7 billion cubic feet per day, before topping 8 billion cubic feet per day in 2019."

– Edited from an EIA press release by CFE Media.

Original content can be found at Oil and Gas Engineering.

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