DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates could see its oil and gas reserves fall dramatically over the next few years, a report published by Business Monitor International's (BMI) United Arab Emirates Oil and Gas Report said. It projected that oil reserves in the UAE will fall by 5.8 billion barrels from the current 96.8 billion last year to just over 91 billion barrels by 2016, highlighting the need for the country to look for alternative revenue sources in the coming years. BMI said in the report that they see oil production “rising to over 3.2 million barrels per day by 2016 and nearly 3.5 mbpd by 2021, supported by re-development of mature fields, the deployment of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and investment from international oil companies and national oil companies.” Crude oil price gained last week closing at $107.87. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) said in a recent report that Brent will steadily continue rising over the next three quarters. Earlier last month, BofA-ML revised Q1 2012 Brent and WTI crude oil price forecast to $108/bbl and $100/bbl from $100/bbl and $92/bbl, respectively, to reflect the much stronger oil price environment. “But demand is decelerating sharply and our supply models indicate a ramp up in volumes heading into Q2 2012, so we leave our projections for the rest of the year unchanged. Against our fundamental views, we acknowledge the Fed's commitment to hold rates near zero until the end of 2014 and that more QE could lend support to Brent oil prices,” the report said. The study continued to say that it projected that “Brent will slide to $104/bbl in second quarter 2012 but will recover in the next quarter to $112/bbl. It will increase further to $116/bbl in the fourth quarter of this year.” But the study said the UAE should not fear losing its oil revenue for at least a few decades, as global oil consumption has dropped off significantly in recent years due to the economic downturn and users reducing their intake across the globe, especially in the developed world. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/X9Ziw Tags: Barrels, BMI, Oil, Report, UAE Section: Business, Latest News, United Arab Emirates
