A Canadian portfolio manager who has been persistently bullish on oil says negative views on the economy are driving down prices for the commodity.

West Texas Intermediate crude was priced at US$69.33 per barrel as of early Tuesday afternoon – far off from the $100 per barrel that Eric Nuttall, partner and senior portfolio manager of Ninepoint Partners, has predicted seeing before the end of this year.

Nuttall said the ongoing interest rate tightening cycle from central banks wrestling with high inflation has created a challenging environment for energy investors.

“This narrative around recession due to inflation driving (U.S. Federal Reserve) policy has really been the boogeyman that we've been battling with,” Nuttall told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Tuesday.

He said traders working with physical crude oil are still bullish on oil, and demand for the commodity remains strong, but “they're fighting against those using oil as an instrument to reflect their negative view on the economy.”

For more of Nuttall’s comments, click on the video at the top of this article.