Oil prices are forecast to hover around USD 70 per barrel, and drop lower that this level, during rest of the current year, according to an Omani expert.
Dr. Jumaa Bin Saleh Al-Ghilani, a crude oil expert, in an interview with KUNA, ruled out prospected rise of the crude prices to the USD 85 pb during the remaining months of the year.
Geopolitical and psychological factors, availability of alternative energy resources namely shale oil, market saturation and preferential policies adopted by some major industrial nations, "all render the prospect of the prices reaching the level of USD 85 per barrel in the near future very difficult to happen." OPEC's agreement, reached at the latest meeting held in Vienna, maintaining current output quotas, boosts anticipation of further falls of the prices, largely due to rise of supplies by some 30 million barrels per day.
Dr. Al-Ghilani added that the US hike of the shale oil output to four million barrels per day contributes to the market sufficiency.
Nevertheless, the oil prices may jump rapidly in case a major political or military event has taken place, he elaborated, citing such occurrence during the past 40 years.