Uncertainties to trigger price hikes

Balanced supplies and improving demand from top consumers will push up global oil prices this year amid lingering uncertainties, experts said.

"Much of the uncertainties in the global oil markets hinge on the quantity of shale oil that the US would actually produce this year," said Lin Boqiang, a senior energy researcher at Xiamen University. He said that a higher output of US shale oil would push down prices even though the current supply and demand trend is balanced.

Yet another factor that could drag down prices is the reluctance by companies to make additional capacity expansion investments due to fluctuating price trends. But with demand improving in the last few months, there could be some production scale-ups, he said.