Elevated Oil Price Forecast, Falling Venezuelan Crude Exports, NextEra Energy: Your Daily Energy News

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

CRUDE OIL
UBS Raises Brent Crude Oil Price Forecast for First-Quarter, Full-Year 2026 - UBS on Wednesday raised its average Brent crude oil price forecasts for the first quarter and full year 2026, citing escalating conflict in the Middle East and the current near de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The bank now sees the Brent price averaging $71 per barrel in ⁠the first quarter, implying around $80 a barrel in March, and at $72 per barrel in 2026, a $10 increase from its previous forecast. The bank said it was leaving its forecasts for later years unchanged at this stage at $70 for 2027 and $75 for 2028, but risk would be to the upside. (Reuters)

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan Oil Exports Fell in February - Venezuela's oil exports fell 6.5% in February from a month earlier to some 737,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) as more shipments to the United States and Europe could not fully offset the loss of what had been the country's main market, China, according to vessel monitoring data and documents from state company PDVSA. Even as Chevron and traders sent more cargoes to the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean last month, the increase was not enough ⁠to compensate for a 67% decline in exports to Asia, which averaged some 48,000 BBL/d, compared with 145,000 BBL/d in January and more than 600,000 BBL/d last year. Overall, oil exports in February were 6.5% lower than in January and stood 19% below the same month of 2025. (Reuters)

POWER
NextEra Expects to Supply 15-30 Gigawatts of Power for Data Centers by 2035 - NextEra Energy expects to build between 15 and 30 gigawatts (GW) of new generation capacity for U.S. data centers in the next nine years, it said in a presentation this week. Much of the new power for data centers is expected ⁠to come from natural gas. NextEra has a pipeline of more than 20 GW of gas-fired generation, ⁠it said in its presentation. (Reuters)

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).