HOUSTON, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil production will increase 2019 and 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In the EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, U.S. crude oil production will average 12.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2019, up by 1.2 million from the 2018 level. The forecast crude oil production will rise by 1.0 million b/d in 2020 to an annual average of 13.2 million b/d.
In terms of oil prices, EIA said Brent crude oil spot prices averaged 59 U.S. dollars per barrel in August, down 5 dollars per barrel from July and 13 dollars per barrel lower than the average from August of last year.
EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average 60 dollars per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 62 dollars per barrel in 2020. It forecasts that West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices will average 5.50 dollars per barrel less than Brent prices in 2020.
In the meantime, EIA forecasts that global liquid fuels consumption will increase by 0.9 million b/d in 2019, down from year-over-year growth of 1.3 million b/d in 2018. The slowing liquid fuels demand growth reflects EIA's assumption of decelerating growth in global oil-weighted gross domestic product (GDP).
EIA expected that global liquid fuels demand will increase by 1.4 million b/d in 2020 as a result of an expected increase in global GDP growth.
