JPMorgan Chase & Co, the third-largest US bank, raised its forecast for oil to average US$71.69 a barrel this year, up from an earlier prediction of US$66.40 for this year.
Oil prices have risen 20 percent in the past month amid concern supplies are not sufficient to meet demand.
The price reached US$98.62 a barrel on Wednesday, the highest since the contract started trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.
"Clearly, the last month was a surprise," JPMorgan analyst Katherine Spector said in a report released late on Friday. "Initially, we had expected [West Texas Intermediate] to peak at around US$80 late in the third quarter followed by a downward correction of roughly 20 percent into year-end."
Oil rising to US$100 a barrel is "entirely possible," the report said. "Subsequent price moves could be violent -- and we anticipate downward."
The price of oil should average US$88 a barrel in the fourth quarter, the report said.
Crude oil for December delivery rose US$0.86, or 0.9 percent, to settle at US$96.32 a barrel at 2:55pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday.
Nigerian oil minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Saturday there is no fundamental justification for oil at US$100 a barrel and Nigeria is assuming that prices will not last at this level.
Ajumogobia, who will be heading to Riyadh to attend an OPEC heads of state summit on Saturday, said that no-one in the oil exporters' group would be surprised if the price fell to US$80 in the next few weeks.
"US$100 oil was speculated about three, four, five months ago and we are there now. There is no indication why it has reached US$100 in terms of supply and demand indices," he said in a telephone interview.
Ajumogobia said there was no indication that US$100 oil had had an impact on demand, but he said OPEC was concerned not to undermine economic growth.
Meanwhile, France on Saturday called on oil producing countries to increase both output and exploration because of rising demand.
French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said she wanted the issue discussed at a meeting of EU finance ministers today and at a G20 meeting in South Africa at the end of next week.
Asked about the chances of an increase in OPEC oil supply before the end of this year, Ajumogobia said: "That will be indicated by how severe the winter is and other factors."
"What we are looking for is a trend. Because we are going down a road no-one has been down before, it is difficult to see a trend," he said.
"Our budget benchmark [for next year] is US$53.80, so we are being reasonably conservative in terms of `this is not a trend that is going to continue.' That is the assumption. I don't see that oil is going to go back to US$40, but I think US$100 is excessive," he said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San