Oil Prices Mixed; Oman Minister Says Prices Unlikely to Rise Above $80 This Year

Investing.com – Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday. Trade was expected to be slow as U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for a holiday, while reports that Oman’s oil and gas minister said oil prices are unlikely to rise above $80 this year raised some eyebrows.

West Texas for October delivery rose 0.4% to $70.06 a barrel as of 12:34 AM ET (04:34 GMT). Meanwhile for November delivery, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., slipped 0.1% to $78.08.

Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Oman’s Minister of Oil and Gas told CNBC on an interview on Monday that he believed prices were currently “fair.”

“I think for the rest of this year we should see stability between $70 and the high 70s (dollars a barrel), or low 70s to high 70s,” he said.

“Because this is the wish of all of us who are cooperating with OPEC to provide the market with enough crude to make sure that the consumers are not impacted and we think that the current price is a fair price.”

Oman is the largest non-OPEC producer in the Middle East.

Oil prices have been driven higher in the past few months as demand for oil outsrips supply and upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran have also supported prices. The financial sanctions against Iran will target the petroleum sector of Iran in November, when a drop of crude supply is expected. Iran is the third-biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), supplying around 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and condensate to markets this year, equivalent to around 2.5% of global consumption.

Meanwhile production by the OPEC rose 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August to a high of 32.79 million bpd, a Reuters survey showed.

China-U.S. trade tensions also remained in focus as reports said the Trump administration was prepared to impose as soon as Thursday. 

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