Oil to fall to US$30 - perhaps $20 - before rebound, says analyst

CRUDE oil prices could hit the US$20 a barrel range, but more realistically $30, before bottoming out in 2016, says McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute president John Kingston.

Mr Kingston's comments on CNBC's Squawk Box come after US government data showed a surprise stockpiling of crude and no slowing in production as the year ended.

The weekly Energy Information Administration data showed a jump of 2.6 million barrels of inventory, when many analysts expected a decline. Inventories had dropped sharply - by six million barrels the previous week.