Crude oil prices could jump to US$60 a barrel by this year’s end thanks to growing demand and lower OPEC supply, according to Citigroup’s senior energy analyst Eric Lee, as quoted by Barron’s. Lee believes that global crude oil demand will reach 97.3 million bpd, up from an average of 96 million bpd last year. At the same time, he sees OPEC producing an average of 700,000 bpd less than its average for 2016 throughout the current year. Authorities such as the IEA and the EIA in the US also forecast a rise in oil demand this year. The IEA believes it will grow by an average 1.3 million bpd , accelerating from the 900,000 bpd in the first quarter. However, the IEA also saw global oil demand at 97.89 million bpd at the end of 2016—a figure that’s half a million barrels higher than Lee’s forecast for 2017 […]