Singapore

OIL prices will reverse their recent gains as global crude inventories begin to rise again, with US crude likely to drop as far as US$40 a barrel in the near-term, Goldman Sachs has said.

Oil prices rose by almost a third between January and February on the back of Middle East supply disruptions, strong winter demand and high refinery margins. That followed a rout that had seen price falls of around 60 per cent between June 2014 and January this year.