The price of crude oil hovered near the 11-year-low mark of $36 per barrel for much of December. But despite a slight rise in oil prices on Tuesday, news for energy prices could get worse in the year ahead, with the IMF predicting that oil could drop as low as $20-$30 per barrel in 2016.
This trend — the risk that oil surprises to the downside — is among the top risks for investors next year, says Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research in its "Outlook 2016" report.
What's driving such dire predictions? According to Jade Fu, an investment manager with the London-based Heartwood Investment Management, oversupply is hammering the energy market and is likely to "be a persistent theme" in 2016.
OPEC's latest estimate is that the world's oil glut is roughly equal to 2 million barrels a day, representing nearly 2% of global demand.
"More recently, financial markets have been particularly frustrated by indicators showing that U.S. stockpiles remain elevated. Market consensus forecasts, however, suggest that while the supply surplus is expected to continue until at least the latter part of next year, excess oil inventories should begin to decrease over the course of the year," Fu explained in his '16 outlook analysis.
Eventually, this process should lead to "a more balanced scenario towards 2017," he states. However, the investment group is "not expecting any meaningful and sustained move in either direction, at least in the first half of 2016."
Volatility Ahead
