Oil Prices Likely to Remain Range-Bound Through 2018 - Moody's

摘要

We continue to assume medium-term price bands of $40-$60 per barrel (bbl) for both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the main oil-price benchmarks globally and in North America, and $2.00-$3.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) for North American natural gas at Henry Hub-the industry's chief measure of natural gas prices (see Exhibit 1). Our medium-term expectations, extending through at least 2018, are the most relevant price considerations we use to estimate financial performance and determine ratings for corporates and oil-exporting countries. We focus on a range of outcomes within the price bands to better under- stand a given corporate or sovereign entity's resilience to price volatility as our ratings need to be durable across a range of outcomes.