UPDATE 1-Jefferies ups oil and gas price forecast for 2009, 2010
June 1 (Reuters) - Jefferies and Co raised its 2009 and 2010 oil and natural gas price forecast and increased its price targets on a number of exploration and production companies.
The brokerage raised its oil price outlook for 2009 to $55 from $45 per barrel (bbl) and raised its natural gas price forecast to $4.90 from $4.80 per million British thermal units (mmbtu).
For 2010, Jefferies raised its oil price outlook by $10 to $65/bbl and natural gas outlook by 50 cents to $6.50/mmbtu.
"We think the new oil-to-gas parity going forward will be roughly 10:1 versus the historical norm of 6-8:1," the brokerage wrote in a note to clients.
Gas could remain under pressure through early July 2010, but could still top $6/mmbtu due to storage surplus narrowing by August of that year, the brokerage said .
Its top picks were XTO Energy Inc (XTO.N), EOG Resources Inc (EOG.N) and Quicksilver Resources Inc (KWK.N), Jefferies said.
For the alerts on the price target changes on E&P companies by Jefferies, please click [ID:nWNAB4930] (Reporting by Arup Roychoudhury in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan) (arup.roychoudhury@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: arup.roychoudhury.reuters.com@reuters.net))
