Oil prices surpassed the $75 mark for the first time since 2014 on news that supply won’t exceed production outputs due to a mix of disruptions in Canada, Venezuela and Libya.
Compounding the supply issue is U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent call for blocking Iranian oil import purchases or face stiff U.S. sanctions. Despite President Trump nudging Saudi Arabia to boost production, it did little to tamp down the price of oil the past few days.
Crude oil peaked at $75.24 around 9:50 Eastern Time before dropping below $75 again.
Related: 3 Oil ETFs Get Boost as Iranian Imports Slashed
“You’re starting to hear talk of oil shock. There is little confidence in the market that we’re going to escape an ever-tightening supply and demand balance now,” said John Kilduff, co-founder at energy hedge fund Again Capital.
Bullish Outlook for Oil
Disruptions in supply caused investment firms like Morgan Stanley to raise their price forecasts from $77.50 to $85 per barrel. Morgan Stanley now expects shipments to drop by 1.1 million bpd by the end of the year after previous forecasts saw the Iranian sanctions wiping out 700,000 bpd through 2019.
Oil ETFs have benefitted from the price boost the past five days–in that timeframe, United States Oil (NYSEArca: USO) is up 1.7 percent, ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) is up large at 19.2 percent and Invesco DB Oil (DBO) is up three percent.
For more trends in the oil market, click here.