Oil Prices Could Jump in December. Energy Stocks Should Get a Jolt.

Oil prices have had a quiet November, holding steady around $90 per barrel. There’s a good chance the calm won’t last. A new set of sanctions from Europe will ratchet up the pressure against Russia and could upend oil markets around the world.

Citi, which has had one of the lowest price targets for oil among the major banks this year, now sees higher prices ahead, with oil averaging $97 per barrel in the fourth quarter, and $95 in the first quarter of 2023. Others are eyeing even higher levels, with some options traders making a long shot bet that crude could get to $200 by March 2023. That almost certainly won’t happen—it would take simultaneous supply and demand shocks to do it—but it does show just how much sentiment has shifted.