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Goldman Sachs warns a slide to $50 a barrel for oil could be possible

13 October 2008 13:30 (UTC +04:00)

BakÄ±. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its crude oil price forecasts for a second time this year after the global financial crisis deepened.
Goldman reduced its estimate for the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for the fourth quarter to $75 a barrel from $110, and cut its year-end target to $70 a barrel from $115, Bloomberg reported.
Global oil demand has declined as a financial crisis in the U.S., the worldâ€™s biggest energy consumer, spread after banks including Lehman Brothers Inc. collapsed. Banks pinched by the credit squeeze have tightened lending as growth slows, tipping the world economy close to a recession.
Goldman lowered their forecasts for 2009, with the average for the year reduced to $86 a barrel from $123. The bankâ€™s end- 2009 target was cut to $107 a barrel from $125. The latest forecast is Goldmanâ€™s second downward revision this year, after a cut on Sept. 16.
It added that the financial crisis had already done more damage than it expected to commodity demand and warned that a slide to $50 a barrel for oil could be possible.