Common Questions

What is Wood Mackenzie?: Wood Mackenzie is an Edinburgh-based global energy, renewables and natural resources research consultancy, founded in 1923 and owned by Verisk Analytics since 2015. It provides commodity price forecasts, supply models and strategic analysis to oil companies, banks and governments worldwide.Source: Wood Mackenzie
What did Wood Mackenzie forecast for oil prices in the Iran conflict?: Analyst Ann-Louise Hittle forecast Brent Crude would reach $150 per barrel and called $200 "not outside the realms of possibility" as Hormuz disruption drove prices to $119 intraday in March 2026.Source: Wood Mackenzie / Lowdown
Who is Ann-Louise Hittle at Wood Mackenzie?: Ann-Louise Hittle is Wood Mackenzie's head of oil markets research. She issued a $150 Brent forecast during the 2026 Iran conflict and was one of the first analysts to put $200 per barrel in scope.Source: Lowdown
How does Wood Mackenzie compare to Rystad Energy on oil forecasts?: Wood Mackenzie's Ann-Louise Hittle called $200 per barrel "not outside the realms of possibility" during the 2026 Iran conflict; Rystad Energy modelled $110 by April and $135 by June under shorter war scenarios, making Wood Mackenzie the more bearish on supply and more bullish on price.Source: Lowdown
Who owns Wood Mackenzie?: Wood Mackenzie is a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, a US-listed data analytics company. Verisk acquired the Edinburgh firm in 2015 for approximately $2.8 billion.Source: Wood Mackenzie
What does Wood Mackenzie say about European gas supply in 2026?: Wood Mackenzie analyst Tom Marzec-Manser said on 25 April 2026 that the EU's short-term Russian LNG ban posed no immediate supply risk, given available US LNG and Norwegian pipeline flows. By late May, with the Troll A fault and an inverted storage strip, that benign assessment was under pressure.Source: Bloomberg; Lowdown EEM Updates
Who is Tom Marzec-Manser at Wood Mackenzie?: Tom Marzec-Manser is a gas and LNG analyst at Wood Mackenzie, cited by Bloomberg and others for European gas supply assessments. He is the firm's primary public voice on EU gas market developments including the 2026 Russian LNG ban impact.Source: Bloomberg

Background

Wood Mackenzie is a global energy, renewables and natural resources research consultancy, founded in 1923 in Edinburgh. Acquired by Verisk Analytics in 2015, it produces commodity price forecasts, supply-and-demand models and strategic analysis used by oil majors, banks and governments worldwide. Its Edinburgh headquarters give it a distinctly European vantage on global energy markets.

The firm gained prominence in the Iran conflict oil spike of 2026, when analyst Ann-Louise Hittle forecast Brent Crude at $150 per barrel and called $200 "not outside the realms of possibility" as the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted . Its analysis fed directly into market pricing as Brent Crude peaked at $126 .

Wood Mackenzie occupies an unusual position: a paid research service whose analyst forecasts routinely move commodity markets when cited in financial press. Its $150-200 Brent scenarios, grounded in Hormuz disruption modelling, sit at the hawkish end of the forecast range alongside Vanda Insights, while peers such as Rystad Energy and Goldman Sachs offered lower ceilings. How long any disruption lasts will determine whose model proves right.

On the European energy markets desk, Wood Mackenzie's gas and LNG analyst Tom Marzec-Manser has been the firm's primary voice. On 25 April 2026, the day the EU's short-term Russian LNG ban entered force, Marzec-Manser assessed publicly that there was "no risk to supply just yet", characterising the 2.8-3.5 million tonne per year removal as a volume the market could absorb given US LNG availability and Norwegian pipeline flows. By late May 2026, Wood Mackenzie's benign near-term view was being stress-tested: the Troll A compressor fault (removing 34.6 MCM/day), an inverted TTF strip keeping commercial storage injection on the sidelines, and the narrowing EU storage buffer to 45 GWh/day on 29 May collectively tightened the conditions that Marzec-Manser's April assessment had treated as comfortably manageable. Wood Mackenzie's European gas coverage operates alongside its oil analysis and sits between ACER's official longer-horizon stress scenarios and the day-to-day market commentary from traders and banks. The firm's assessments on LNG terminal utilisation and Norwegian flow variability are closely tracked by utilities and gas traders benchmarking positions against third-party views.

How the World Sees Them

Investors

Asset managers cite Wood Mackenzie forecasts when stress-testing energy portfolios. Its $200 per barrel scenario forced re-evaluation of hedging strategies across the oil-dependent economy.

Oil Markets

Wood Mackenzie is a primary price-forecast reference for oil traders and banks. Its $150-200 Brent scenarios during the 2026 Iran conflict set the upper bound of credible market expectations.

United Kingdom

As an Edinburgh-based firm, Wood Mackenzie provides European-headquartered analysis in a field dominated by US banks. Its independence from trading desks lends credibility to its commodity outlooks.

Energy Industry

Oil majors and national companies licence Wood Mackenzie data for investment planning. The firm's Hormuz disruption models directly influenced capital allocation decisions during the 2026 supply shock.