Oil prices expected to increase

Gulf sources said they expect the price of oil to increase next month. The Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources of the UAE Obaydan Ibn Seif Al Nasery said that the recent developments in Iraq's relations with the Security Council and the political circumstances in the Gulf will lead to an increase in the prices of oil. He expected that the price of barrel will reach $23.

Al Nasery added that the increase in the price of oil will be mainly caused by the increase in the seasonal requests during that time of the year. He also expected that the the price of one barrel of OPEC oil will reach $19.

He confirmed that the requests for oil should also increase during the current year and the first quarter of the coming year, especially oil produced by OPEC, and that the oil production of non-OPEC members will decrease.

OPEC hopes to reach the price which it fixed in 1990 which is $20 per barrel. Al Nasery said that the producing countries are looking forward to an increase in the prices to the limit fixed by OPEC.

The Oil Minister confirmed the UAE's commitment to its quota, which is 2,161 million barrels a day. He said that the UAE requested to be allowed a bigger quota in the future.