Crude oil prices, which have declined by over 20% during the past two months alone, are expected to rise to USD 49.50 in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a Bloomberg survey of 20 analysts. The median of their estimates for the price of oil per barrel in 2017 is USD 57. Crude currently trades at c USD 40 per bbl although oil companies’ capex cuts are expected to push prices up. ABN Amro’s energy economist Hans Van Cleef says that as soon as the market realizes there is no longer an oversupply of oil due to the cuts, a “huge boost [in prices]” should result. Another analyst called it a “ticking time bomb.”