What will oil do in 2010?

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) met on December 22 in Angola and decided to adhere to their production quota over the next few months. This was against the backdrop of a huge stockpile, which is taking time to get exhausted. Although the American investment banker Goldman Sachs and the International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Nobuo Tanaka perceive an uptick in crude demand in 2010, Opec, in its latest oil market report underscored a more balanced outlook, driven by concerns that surplus oil will weigh considerably on price, at least during the first half of the coming year. The report says,
“A more detailed look at the supply/demand balance indicates that fundamentals will continue to be weak in the first half of the year before improving in the second half, as reflected in the demand for Opec crude.”