MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OPEC president predicts oil below 100 USD a barrel

OPEC president Chakib Khelil

The price of crude sunk to below 121 US dollars a barrel, touching on its lowest point since May, in the wake of a strengthening dollar and the comments of OPEC president Chakib Khelil, who called current prices “abnormal” and predicted that the barrel price could sink below 100 dollars in the long term.

September-delivery crude was trading at 121.43 US dollars a barrel in New York while Brent has skidded to US 122.28 dollars in London. Light crude peaked at 147.27 dollars on 11 July. "If the dollar continues to strengthen and the political situation improves, then the long-term prices will be about 78 US dollars a barrel" said Mr Khelil adding the market was well supplied with oil. Speaking from Jakarta Mr. Khelil said "there's a balance in the market; I would say stocks are at a good level and there hasn't been any disruption in demand". Asked whether any members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should cut production if oil prices continued to fall, he said: "No, I don't think so. Why should they cut production?" "They always want to make sure there's good supply and demand and to satisfy the demand" he underlined. OPEC is scheduled to meet in Vienna on September 9 to review output after maintaining levels at its past three meetings in December, February and March. Libya's top oil official said on Monday that oil prices slipped from a record as concerns over an escalation of tensions between the US and Iran eased. "Probably it's about geopolitics, the US and Iran" said Shokri Ghanem, the head of Libya's National Oil Corp. "Oil prices will go up again because of speculation". Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter pledged on June 22 to increase output by 200,000 barrels a day in July, on top of a previous 300,000 barrel-a-day boost scheduled for June. Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari was cited as saying by the state-run Shana news agency on July 22 that OPEC shouldn't raise output when it met in Vienna.