OPEC chief expects oil price to reach $40 a barrel in second half of 2020

Oil prices will reach $40 a barrel by the second half of this year, Anadolu Agency reported OPEC’s president saying yesterday.

The official who also acts as Algeria’s Energy Minister, Mohamed Arkab, added in an interview that oil prices will rise during the months of May and June to an average of $35 a barrel, in parallel with the implementation of the output cut agreement.

Two weeks ago, OPEC producers and allies agreed to reduce oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day for two months starting in May in a bid to stabilise the oil market.

According to the agreement, a reduction of eight million barrels per day will be maintained from July until the end of 2020, followed by an agreement to reduce production by six million barrels per day in early 2021 until April 2022.

The Algerian energy minister and OPEC chief explained that the oil price recovery is encouraged by the loosening of lockdown measures imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which will see demand for petrol increase.

READ: What impact will the oil price crash have on the Arab world?