Eni CEO Expects Brent Oil Price to Rebound to $80 in Q4

Brent Crude prices are set to recover to $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter, Claudio Descalzi, chief executive at Italian energy major Eni, said on Wednesday.

“Oil (is seen) at around $80 per barrel, while for natural gas in Italy we can (expect a price of) 30 euros per megawatt hour,” Descalzi said on the sidelines of the Energy Summit conference organized by Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

There is extreme volatility in oil prices, Eni’s top executive said.

The supply chain is not supporting the demand of around 104 million barrels per day (bpd), Descalzi said, adding that while there is production potential, there aren’t many projects and investments in the upstream sector.

The ‘time to market’ timelines are too long, the executive noted.

Brent Crude prices were trading just below $74 per barrel early on Wednesday, down by 1.6% on the day, as traders started to digest China’s massive stimulus that made the oil market euphoric on Tuesday.

Brent at around $80 per barrel for the rest of the year is the call of most investment banks and analysts.

Macquarie has revised down its forecast for Brent Crude price by $2 per barrel to $80 for the rest of 2024. Earlier this month, the bank cut by the same amount its estimate for the WTI Crude price, expecting it to average $75 a barrel for the remainder of the year.

However, Macquarie expects the oil market to tip into a surplus over the next five quarters, due to weaker-than-expected demand.

Weaker Chinese oil demand, high inventories, and rising U.S. shale production have prompted Goldman Sachs to reduce its expected range for Brent oil prices by $5 to $70-$85 per barrel.

Just two weeks after lowering its Brent estimate to $80 per barrel for the fourth quarter, Morgan Stanley cut again its forecast, now expecting the international benchmark to average $75 a barrel in the last quarter of the year. Analysts at Morgan Stanley see rising headwinds on the demand side, which has been their key reason for cutting their Q4 oil price forecast.