MORGAN STANLEY: We're slashing our oil price forecast by 50%

Oil is one of the most traded commodities at the moment and everyone has a view.

But the prevailing opinion is now that oil won't be returning to triple digits a barrel anytime soon.

On Monday, Ian Taylor, CEO of Vitol Group and boss of the world's biggest independent oil trader, said the price of oil will stay beneath $60 for as long as 10 years.

Now Morgan Stanley has weighed in, slashing their 2016 oil forecasts from the $55+ per barrel range to less than $30.

It's all about demand. With the OPEC oil producing cartel refusing to cut production, it will take a lot of demand for the commodity to mop up the glut and return prices to normal.

Morgan Stanley analysts don't see any evidence of that happening soon.

The price of Brent crude, the European benchmark, peaked at about $140 a barrel in 2008 before crashing as low as $45 in early 2009. It then recovered substantially, trading around the $100 mark for nearly three years from 2011 to 2014.

But, right now, Brent and West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, are hovering between $32 and $35 a barrel thanks to oversupply and an attempt by OPEC to knock out the US shale oil industry.

Business Insider