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Goldman: ‘U.S. Oil Price to Surpass Brent by BTA | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Screen at a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is juxtaposed with the Goldman Sachs booth. AP


London – The push by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for a shift to border-adjusted corporate tax (BTA) could drive U.S. crude prices higher than the global benchmark Brent, triggering large-scale domestic production, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs.

The measure, known as border adjustment, intends to boost U.S. manufacturing by taxing imports while exempting U.S. business export revenues from corporate taxation.

Goldman said it anticipates a 25 percent jump in the prices of U.S. crude futures, also known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and refined products in comparison to the global prices if the switch is implemented.

However, the investment bank said that uncertainty on whether such a policy will go ahead is high due to concerns about WTO-noncompliance and transition issues and oil futures currently only imply a nine percent probability for such a shift.

“If implemented, the impacts on the oil market would be significant,” Goldman said.

“We expect WTI could move to a $10 per barrel premium to Brent from a $3 discount – a $13 (+25 percent) relative move immediately.”

Brent crude futures were trading on Tuesday at a $2.40 per barrel premium to WTI.

The rise of prices could be an incentive for producers to sharply increase activity, the bank said, warning that the ramp up in U.S. production in a market only starting to rebalance would create a renewed large oil surplus in 2018 that could lead to an immediate sharp decline in global oil prices.

It also said it sees Brent prices coming down to $50 per barrel in 2019, assuming a 15 percent appreciation in the U.S. dollar upon implementation of the BTA and a 30 percent pass-through of U.S. production costs to global production costs.

In the long run, that would result in 2020 Brent prices falling to $40 per barrel, Goldman analysts added.