The EIA now forecasts the Brent crude price to average $59.42 a barrel in 2016, down $7.62 a barrel from the June estimate. The WTI price is forecast to average $5 a barrel below the Brent price.
The agency also forecasts monthly average prices to decline from July levels of $2.79 per gallon of regular gasoline to an average $2.11 per gallon for the fourth quarter of 2015. For the full year, the EIA expects an average price of $2.43 a gallon, a nickel a gallon below last month’s estimate. For 2016 EIA estimates gasoline to cost $2.40 a gallon at the pump, down 15 cents compared with last month’s estimate.
U.S. crude oil production is expected to average an estimated 9.4 million barrels a day in 2015, down by 70,000 barrels a day from the June estimate. Production is expected to decline in the first half of next year before increasing again. The EIA now estimates average U.S. production in 2016 dipping to 9 million barrels a day.
In the drilling productivity report released on Monday, the EIA projects August oil production from new wells in seven major shale plays to total 433,000 barrels a day, rising to 434,000 barrels a day in September. Total production, however, is expected to drop from 5.36 million barrels a day in August to 5.27 million barrels in September.
The EIA also noted on Tuesday that it expects natural gas in storage to reach 3.867 trillion cubic feet by the end of October, the second highest total on record for that date.
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