| Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mehdi predicted world oil prices could reach $70 a barrel by the end of 2015 and played down the impact of the emerging conflict in Yemen on prices. A global slump in oil prices has slashed government revenue in Iraq, prompting the OPEC producer to renegotiate contracts with oil majors as it faces a costly military campaign against Islamic State militants.
"In January prices reached the bottom and they can't go any lower than that," Abdel Mehdi told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "Now they're going up, slowly but steadily. They will go up and maybe reach $70 by the end of the year". Brent oil rallied for a second straight day on Thursday to more than $59 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies launched air strikes in Yemen, sparking fears of a wider regional confrontation that could disrupt world crude supplies...............................................Full Article: Source |