Long/short commodity funds are building strategies based on a $78–$90 2025 oil price forecast band, rotating capital towards low-cost producers with healthy free cash flow yields. We are in the final innings of the third quarter, and energy markets remain tepid amid bearish sentiment. Brent crude for November delivery was trading at $69.45 per barrel at 8.45 am ET on Friday, more than $10/bbl below the current year’s peak at ~81/bbl, while WTI crude was changing hands at $65.05 per barrel compared to the January peak of $78.71 per barrel. Oil prices have mostly traded ~15/bbl lower in 2025 compared to the previous year, primarily due to oversupply fears due to OPEC+ accelerating the unwinding of production cuts, coupled with sluggish global economic growth and heightened trade tensions that suppressed oil demand, leading to ample global supply outweighing demand. Increased output from non-OPEC+ countries also contributed to a build-up of oil inventories. Lately, Wall Street has been warning that oil markets could soon face a surplus, putting more pressure on already depressed oil prices. To wit, Goldman Sachs has predicted that oil markets could be oversupplied by 1.9 million b/d in 2026 amid OPEC+ unwinding production cuts and production in the Americas rising. Wall Street now sees oil prices sinking to the $50s per barrel next year, further compounding this year’s decline. On September 29, 2025, the Brent crude oil price stood at 66.8 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 63.45 U.S. dollars for WTI oil and 70.48 U.S. dollars for the OPEC basket. Oil prices rose slightly that week. Europe's Brent crude oil, the U.S. WTI crude oil, and OPEC's basket are three of the most important benchmarks used by traders as reference for global oil and gasoline prices . Institutional models for the 2025 oil price forecast point to an $80–$88 trading corridor in Q2 2025, citing constrained inventory builds and resilient transport fuel demand in OECD economies.