Brent Crude prices are expected to average $68 a barrel in the third quarter this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its latest monthly outlook, raising the forecast by as much as $5 per barrel from the previous projection. In the June Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA also raised its Brent Crude forecast for June by $4 a barrel from the May STEO and now sees the international benchmark averaging $69 per barrel this month. Despite the COVID crisis in India, global oil demand remained higher than supply in May, which extended the global inventory drawdown of crude and fuels, although the withdrawal is estimated by the EIA at 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, compared with average monthly withdrawals of 2.1 million bpd since June 2020. EIA’s latest price outlook is close or slightly below current levels and “incorporates the recent price […]