Oil prices will remain trapped in the $70-$80 a barrel range in the first half of 2010 as demand recovers more slowly than expected, according to the world's top oil trading houses.
The view of traders such as Vitol, Glencore, Trafigura, Gunvor and Mercuria will be scrutinised by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil cartel, which meets tomorrow in Luanda, Angola, to discuss its production policy during the northern hemisphere's winter.
“Oil prices are likely to be stuck in the current range,” Ian Taylor, chief executive of Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, told the Financial Times. Pierre Lorinet, chief financial officer of Trafigura, added: “The fundamentals do not support current prices.”