MOSCOW, December 22 (Sputnik) — As of 4:40 GMT on Monday, February futures for North Sea Brent crude grew by 1.14 percent – up to $62.52 US per barrel; meanwhile the price of January futures for light WTI crude increased by 0.9 percent, to $58.03 US per barrel.
At a conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday al-Naimi noted that the global oversupply of oil is associated with the lack of cooperation between producers outside OPEC. At the same time, he noted that projected global economic growth is set to increase demand.
Qatar’s Energy and Industry Minister Mohammed Al-Sada agreed with al-Naimi, adding that in his estimate there is presently an oversupply of 2 million barrels per day. He expressed his confidence that oil prices will stabilize.
Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities in Sydney, told Bloomberg this morning that “we can expect more persuasive talk to try and get prices back to a happy median. A good balance for the market is $70. We’re coming into the Christmas period of low liquidity, so expect volatility and fluctuations to continue.”
