KeyBanc Capital Markets has revised its 2009 and 2010 crude oil and natural gas pricing assumptions. It has incorporated an updated price deck into its individual company models and will revisit individual production growth targets, capital spending plans and cost structures due to the increasing price for crude oil.

“We are increasing our second-quarter 2009 crude-oil pricing assumption from $45 per barrel to $58.25 per barrel,” says Jack Aydin, senior managing director. “Our second-quarter West Texas Intermediate price assumption reflects the average actual price to date.

“Concurrent with our second-quarter price adjustment, we revised upward our third-quarter and fourth-quarter assumptions from $48 per barrel and $52 per barrel, respectively, to $56 per barrel for both quarters, reflecting slightly better expectations for global demand and higher than expected compliance by OPEC members, as relates to production cuts.

“Thus, we are increasing our 2009 full-year WTI assumptions from an average of $47.04 per barrel to $53.36 per barrel. Additionally, we are increasing our 2010 estimate from $58 per barrel to $62 per barrel.”

The bank’s average natural gas pricing assumption for 2009 decreased due to the second-quarter actual bid-week price coming in at $3.51 per million Btu, slightly below its expectation of $3.60 per million Btu. However, the bank is maintaining its other prior pricing assumptions for the balance of the year and 2010.

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