HSBC Holdings PLCHSBC raises its 2026/2027 Brent crude forecasts, a bullish commodity call from its own analysts.

HSBC raised its 2026 Brent crude forecast to $90 a barrel from $80 and its 2027 forecast to $85 from $65, setting a longer-term assumption of $75 from 2028 onward, according to OilPrice.com. Senior oil analyst Kim Fustier wrote that oil markets are unlikely to rebalance until the middle of 2027, a date that rests on Gulf bypass pipelines carrying crude around Hormuz without interruption. HSBC's base case assumes Hormuz liquids flows climb from about 6 million barrels a day now to 8 million by year-end and 9.5 million by mid-2027, still far below the 19 million to 20 million moving before the conflict, while Saudi and UAE bypass pipelines rise from just over 4 million barrels a day to 6.8 million by mid-2027, lifting total Gulf export volumes to roughly 16.5 million barrels a day. The raised forecast sits well below current prices: front-month Brent fell 3.58% to $103.78 a barrel on Sept. 11 after peaking near $108 on Sept. 10, reported CNBC. The assumption was tested on Thursday when satellite imagery showed a black smoke plume tracing the route of Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline, known as Petroline, between Medina and Mahd adh Dhahab, with NASA thermal detections clustered along the same stretch, reported Newsweek; Saudi authorities have not confirmed a strike and Aramco has not commented. The national diesel average hit $6.05 a gallon on Friday, up from $5.85 the week before and $3.70 a year ago, according to AAA figures reported by NPR.
HSBC Holdings PLCHSBC raises its 2026/2027 Brent crude forecasts, a bullish commodity call from its own analysts.
Satellite imagery showed a smoke plume along Saudi Aramco's East-West Petroline, suggesting a possible strike on its export infrastructure.