Oil to reach record average above $90 in 2008

By Ikuko Kao - Poll

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil will climb to a record average above $90 this year and five analysts now expect U.S. crude to average $100 or higher in 2008, an updated Reuters poll of analysts showed on Monday.

Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank raised their crude oil price forecasts last week.

Reflecting the changes, Reuters monthly survey of 29 analysts put the consensus forecast for U.S. crude futures in 2008 at an average of $90.55 a barrel, up from $83.87 in last month's poll.

German bank Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg has the highest assumption of $107, while research firm Bernstein Research the lowest at $72.50.

Societe Generale raised its oil price forecast for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or U.S. crude to an average $101.20 this year, compared with its previous forecasts of $80.92.

The French bank said economic slowdown in the United States, the world's top consumer, would be mild and have little impact on oil prices. It also said that a large part of global oil demand growth would come from emerging markets such as China and the Middle East and that investors' money would continue to flow into the oil market.

"We fully anticipate that further investor flows will drive crude and product prices to new highs in the second quarter 2008," Mike Wittner, Societe Generale's global head of oil research, said in a note.

"We forecast front-month WTI to average $107.50 a barrel in the second quarter 2008, which implies a new record high of $115 a barrel to $120 a barrel."