Oil Outlook ‘Bearish’ on Demand Drop, U.S. Shale Boom

Crude prices will probably drop, at least in the first half, amid rising U.S. shale-oil production and slowing economic growth, according to analysts.

“I’d stay moderately bearish from here,” Seth Kleinman, head of energy strategy at Citigroup Inc., said at the Bloomberg Oil Forum in London today. “Everything looks pretty weak,” he said, citing downward revisions to global demand growth forecasts by the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.