[Bas]

high $168
low $68
close$148

I think 2010 will see the demand in China *the world's biggest car market* grow by a considerable amount while demand in the West and the rest of the world will recover making demand and supply tight again, especially in the second half of the year, giving speculators a good opportunity to drive up prices, maybe well past my predictions but at least as high as last year's record price, more or less corrected for inflation in the price of gold that we've seen in the past year.

[eastbay]

High: $ 147.00
Low: $ 72.00
Close: $ 137.00

[SteinarN]

I think what we have seen in 2009 is a return to a somewhat more "normal" price development with a gradual increase in the oil price as extraction from new and existing fields becomes increasingly harder and more expensive. A gradual return from the grip of the financial cricis along with an increase in the chinese consumption will probably increase the upward pressure on the oil price.

Low: 71
High: 112
Close: 102

[Rod_Cloutier]

High: $120.
Low: $10
Close: $70

There has been too much oil put into storage during the oil glut this year for prices to rise to 2008 highs, inventory takes time to clear. Also, many areas are still seeing deflation, couple that with perhaps 30% plus unemployment in the US sustained through 2010 this could also hammer demand even further. I see $10 oil a possibility if the depression worsens and demand continues to fall faster than the oil supply.

Given the inventory glut, a depression economy, low prospects for growth, and a post peak oil production reality, I see oil being about the same as it is now at the end of 2010, hovering around $70 a barrel. (However, with a return to high volitility in price movements).

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SteinarN', 'I') think what we have seen in 2009 is a return to a somewhat more "normal" price development with a gradual increase in the oil price as extraction from new and existing fields becomes increasingly harder and more expensive. A gradual return from the grip of the financial cricis along with an increase in the chinese consumption will probably increase the upward pressure on the oil price.

Low: 71
High: 112
Close: 102

[thylacine]

Low = $60
High = $150
Close = $100

A price spike some time during the year either due to improving western economies putting additional pressure on supply, or maybe tension/conflict in the Persian Gulf.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')loomberg asked the oil analysts who had been most successful in predicting the price of crude oil in 2009 where oil prices would be headed next year, and two divergent scenarios come to the fore: the first sees crude staying high and looming in the $88-$92 range for the fourth quarter of 2010, while the second has it dropping much lower, to $59 a barrel by the end of 2010.

The first scenario, the Bloomberg post notes, is supported by the two analysts who were the most accurate forecasters of crude prices in 2009; their predictions were “within 9 percent of market levels.” Mike Wittner of Societe Generale SA and Hannes Loacker at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG think that oil will stay up in 2010, buoyed by increased demand and stagnant production.

Wittner thinks crude will hover at $92.50 and Loacker puts it at $88. The price, the pair say, will rise as China and India lead the world economy out of our current global recession—the biggest “economic shock” we’ve seen since World War II—and OPEC caps its output. Loacker said he thinks OPEC will stick to its current production levels “for a good portion of 2010.

[pup55]

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
West Texas Intermediate Spot Average 75.67 78.00 79.67 81.33

Source: US EIA STEO issued December2009

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/dec09.pdf

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n late December, Calgarybased energy investment bank Peters & Co. raised its 2010 oil forecast to $77.35 from a previous estimate of $75.60.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')T. Boone Pickens is still a bull on the energy complex. Bloomberg reported last week that Pickens now sees oil hitting $100 a barrel next year.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'n')dustrial output in China rose by 19% in November over the same month in 2008. Though the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (www.eia.doe.gov) and oil cartel OPEC don't see the demand scenario as fleshing out until 2010, the IEA outlook is bolstered by JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), a U.S.-based financial services giant.

JP Morgan analysts upped their oil price forecast for 2010 from $67.50 to $78.25 last Thursday, which would put crude about 12% higher than current levels around $69.90 per barrel.

[obixman]

Low - 64
High - 120
close - 110

[Daniel_Plainview]

Low = $66.6
High = $125.15
Close = $83.73

[lateStarter]

Low: $68
High: $104
Close: $98

This is BAU forecast.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', ' High Low Close
TreeFarmer 88 38 63
eXpat 100 70 90
alpha480v 125 75 99
jdmartin 118 70 90
SeaGypsy 92 68 87
Hawkcreek 168 69 119
Armageddon 219 75 201
OilFinder2 84 64 68
IslandCrow 140 70 105
wisconsin_cur 138.95 32.16 55.12
Cog 110 74 90
davep 140 60 120
mcgowanjm 78.51 27.25 27.25
2cher 136 72 123
TheDude 120 45 65
Gerben 101 65 78
pablonite 169 69 113
AlexdeLarge 88 35 40
Bas 168 68 148
eastbay 147 72 137
SteinarN 112 71 102
Repent 120 10 70
thylacine 150 60 100
obixman 120 64 110
Daniel_Plainview 125.15 66.6 83.73
lateStarter 104 68 98


avg 125 60 95
')

part of me wants to go with the averages, because it is a pretty plausible scenario........

and part of me wants to be a contrarian, kinda like Deutche Bank, and low ball it.....

I think the sentiment of the so-called all knowing experts has been similarly schizophrenic this year.

[hardtootell-2]

Thanks for the guesses one and all. I am too embarrassed by last yrs results to hazard a guess. Some of you have provided rationale for 2010 guesses, others did not. I am interested in hearing rationale, esp from doomers. Is the upper limit, limited by demand destruction? What about geopolitics and war? Surely that could take the lid off prices. And I assume the lower limit represents a double dip recession?
How will oil correlate to the equity, precious metals and bond markets? What about a much weaker dollar?
I know these are hard questions, but "you guys" are up to it.

[Nike62]

H: 95
L: 40
C: 80

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hardtootell-2', 'T')hanks for the guesses one and all. I am too embarrassed by last yrs results to hazard a guess. Some of you have provided rationale for 2010 guesses, others did not. I am interested in hearing rationale . . .

[Carlhole]

Oil will be $60 for a low and $100 for a high in 2010; low in summer as the dollar strengthens as the Fed tightens money supply.

High toward year-end with strengthening economy.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')an one forward a strong argument for a downtrend in oil's price in 2010?

Commerzbank AG Senior Analyst Eugen Weinberg attempts do just that -- predicting that oil will fall to $59 per barrel in Q4 2010, due to OPEC production increases.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Low: 58
High: 96
Close: 73