Oil races towards US$100, but party may not last

CRUDE prices are a hair’s breadth from the magic mark of US$100 a barrel, after a four-month rally. Demand for oil far exceeds supply – and the gulf is widening because of the Saudi Arabia-led cartel’s extended output cuts.

But oil bulls may want to put a lid on expectations that oil is in for a “higher-for-longer” run, even as the commodity is set to log its best quarter since March 2022. That triple-digit mark appears to be a shoo-in.

TD Commodities wrote in a recent report: “While we continue to expect tight crude markets into the year-end, producers, consumers and merchants were widely expecting a period of steep deficits, and appear to have been well-positioned against recent upside risks to prices.”