August 23, 2023--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With Brent crude oil selling for about $85 per barrel in mid-August, and West Texas Intermediate about $5 per barrel less than that, some attendees and securities firms were predicting Brent could average $90 per barrel this year. Roger Read, managing director and senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) (San Francisco, California), wasn't among them.

Speaking on August 15, Read predicted Brent would sell for about $75 per barrel, on average, for this year, 2024 and 2025. WTI would sell for about $5 per barrel less each year, he told an estimated 750 attendees at the conference, sponsored annually by EnerCom Incorporated (Denver, Colorado).

His price projection was a far cry from the $100 per barrel Brent fetched on average last year, a level boosted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But it also was a far cry from the $43 per barrel Brent sold for, on average, during 2020.

Other companies featured: ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)