Fund manager Andurand sees $60 oil and above ‘because Saudis want it’

Pierre Andurand says the Saudis will accommodate to make higher oil prices happen. Maldon Photographer @Maldonphotogra Twitter photo.

Pierre Andurand predicts $70/barrel oil by summer, 2017

Oct 12 (Reuters) – Energy hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand said crude oil could hit $60 a barrel by the end of the year and $70 by summer 2017 as Saudi Arabia wants higher oil prices and will make it happen.

“Market participants are getting lost in monitoring how much each individual country is going to cut,” Andurand wrote in the latest letter of his eponymous hedge fund that manages $1.4 billion, referring to Saudi plans to get OPEC and other oil producers to reduce output to boost prices.

“They are missing the point, which is that the Saudis want higher oil prices now and … will accommodate to make that happen,” said the September letter by the London-based Andurand Commodities Fund, seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Barani Krishnan; Editing by Marguerita Choy)