Oil hedge fund BBL sees crude at US$80 after Opec cuts

Davos

BBL COMMODITIES LP, one of the world's largest oil-focused hedge funds, believes Brent crude will climb to US$80 a barrel this year as stockpiles drop rapidly on the back of production cuts made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies.

"We think the market is vastly overestimating the near-term inventory buffer," Jonathan Goldberg, the founder of BBL Commodities, said in an interview last week.

"Given the rise in demand over the past five years, inventories are especially low as a measure of forward cover." With crude inventories down, Mr Goldberg expects Brent to climb about 15 per cent from …