Oil Prices Unlikely To Return To $60 Per Barrel Until 2022- Equatorial Guinea's Minister

Oil Prices Unlikely to Return to $60 Per Barrel Until 2022- Equatorial Guinea's Minister

Oil prices will not likely return to the pre-crisis level of $60 per barrel until 2022, yet the market has adjusted to the oil price of $30 per barrel, Equatorial Guinea's minister of mines and hydrocarbons, Gabriel M. Obiang, has told Sputni

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2020) Oil prices will not likely return to the pre-crisis level of $60 per barrel until 2022, yet the market has adjusted to the oil price of $30 per barrel, Equatorial Guinea's minister of mines and hydrocarbons, Gabriel M. Obiang, has told Sputnik.

"I don't see oil going back to the pre-pandemic prices and $60 until 2022. There is a lot of cheap oil in the world, it's going take time for the inventory to go down. People expecting oil to go to the $40 and $50, they are being very optimistic. I think that more logical to be conservative and comfortable around $30 area, 30 to 39, 40," Obiang said in an interview.

Although the price of $30 per barrel is not very comfortable and the producers would prefer a higher figure, it at least brings some stability and allows the budget to be managed, the minister noted.

The oil prices plummeted earlier this year against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures and the economic slowdown. In April, the prices of the West Texas Intermediate even went negative. However, the energy market is starting to show the signs of recovery after the OPEC+ group and some G20 nations decided to slash their oil output in an effort to stabilize the prices.