News / Business

Oman says it expects oil to rise to $70

Monday, 23 January 2017 6:22 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 January 2017 6:22 PM ]

Salim Al-Aufi, an undersecretary at Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas says the Sultanate expects oil prices to reach $60-$70 a barrel by the end of the year.

Oman says it expects oil prices to reach $60-$70 a barrel by the end of the year – a price level that it says could mark the beginning of the balance between supply and demand.

The announcement was made by Salim Al-Aufi, an undersecretary at Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas.

Al-Aufi further emphasized that Oman plans to produce an average of one million barrels of crude oil per day this year, despite a production cut of 45,000 barrels a day agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Countries (OPEC).

“Production-wise, we are going to maintain the one million barrels per day. Our share in production cut is 45,000 barrels a day and we have already started reducing the production. But we see this as a short-term (phenomenon),” he was quoted as saying by the media.

Oman is not a member of the OPEC. Yet, it is taking part in a global supply agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, whose first committee to monitor the implementation of the deal met on Sunday in Vienna.

Al Aufi further emphasized that Oman is building its capacity for oil production and “getting a lot of support from operators in maintaining the activity level and in building capacity.”

He also said that all oil exporting countries, including OPEC members, have already reduced crude oil supply by 1.5 million barrels per day, against a commitment of 1.8 million barrels a day, the Times of Oman reported.

Al Aufi further added that the focus of Oman would be to strengthen the production capacity of natural gas, stressing that this was because of the fact that the Sultanate “has long-term commitment for supplying gas to industries”.

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