Oil prices could rise to $100 a barrel by 2019, warn merchants

SINGAPORE: Oil prices could rise towards $100 per barrel by 2019 as US sanctions against Iran tighten markets, commodity merchants Trafigura and Mercuria said on Monday at the annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) in Singapore.

Almost 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude could be taken out of the market as a result of the US sanctions against Iran by the end of the fourth quarter this year, said Daniel Jaeggi, president of commodity merchant Mercuria Energy Trading, making a crude price spike to $100 a barrel possible.

Ben Luckock, co-head of oil trading at fellow merchant Trafigura said crude oil prices could rise to $90 per barrel by Christmas and to $100 by the New Year as markets tighten.