It’s a safe bet that investors are getting increasingly tired of all the conflicting forecasts about oil and gas prices. Some argue that oil is heading back to $20 thanks to the continuing excess supply. Others claim that the excess is overestimated and crude is well on its way to reach $80 or more by the end of the year. The likely truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle, at least for the time being. But according to energy consultants Douglas-Westwood, prices will remain where they are now until about 2019, when offshore oil production will finally peak. The company’s analysts list 15 large-scale offshore projects that are to blame, including Iran’s South Pars field, Brazil’s Lula in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, and Mexico’s Tsimin-Xux. These three alone are projected to yield a combined 1.617 million barrels per day in 2017. To put this in […]