Oil prices 'set to fall'
Global oil prices should soon fall, partly because of expected supply increases from Iraq, the head of the Opec cartel forecast today.
“International oil prices for the September to December period are likely to drop,” said Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who is also Indonesia’s mines and energy minister, in Jakarta.
Iraq supply should improve later this year as security there was likely to improve, Purnomo said. Iraq is a member of the 12 member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
An expected resolution of the Yukos oil scandal in Russia, which is the world’s largest non-Opec oil producer, should also help tame sky-high crude prices, Purnomo said.
Opec oil ministers are next set to meet in Vienna this month to discuss ways to bring prices down. Huge demand from the US and China, coupled with fears over terrorism have helped push prices to two-decade highs this year.
