TEHRAN, April 8 (UPI) -- Oil prices on the world market should recover to around $60 per barrel this year as OPEC members honor production-level quotas, Iranian officials said.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi, the Iranian governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency he saw a bull market emerging in the energy sector as production controls impact prices.
"If current OPEC production (including Iraq) continues at 28 million barrels per day to the end of the year, oil prices on the global market will increase gradually to $60 per barrel," Khatibi said.
OPEC since September called for production cuts totaling 4.2 million bpd following massive losses in the price of oil since July highs of more than $147.
The Platts news service said February production by OPEC members was around 28 million bpd. For its part, the International Energy Agency said global demand for oil in 2009 was expected to decline by 1 million bpd, the largest drop since 1982.
Oil prices have hovered around $50 per barrel since the OPEC production quotas were announced last year.
