Oil prices are poised to drop next year as U.S. crude production reaches a 45-year high, government forecasters said today. West Texas Intermediate will average $94.67 a barrel in 2015 versus the August projection of $96.08, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said today in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook . The EIA trimmed its Brent crude forecast for next year to $103 from $105. Rising U.S. crude production is bolstering the country’s energy independence, Adam Sieminski , the administrator of the EIA, said in a statement. The agency forecast output of 8.53 million barrels a day this year, up from 7.45 million last year, and 9.53 million in 2015, the most since 1970. It’s also pushing down the EIA’s forecast for gasoline prices. “The U.S. oil production forecast for 2015 was revised up by 250,000 barrels per day, with total output expected to be at the highest level since […]