ALGIERS (AFP) – Oil prices could stabilise in the second half of 2010 at around 90 dollars a barrel, Algeria's Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said Saturday.
"The oil market will stabilise when the price of a barrel is at 90 dollars. This level should be reached between the middle and the end of 2010," Khelil said in Algiers, according to the APS news agency.
Khelil said the current oil price, which has been rising and is above 70 dollars currently, represents a "normal situation", due to a fall in reserves and the International Energy Agency raising their forecast for global demand.
The minister said other factors behind the recent price rise were increased fuel consumption in America and the first signs of economic recovery in the US and China.
Members of The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were also sticking to their production quotas, Khelil said.
"I don't think prices will continue to rise. They might stabilise or perhaps fall to 65 or 70 dollars a barrel," he added.
Oil prices retreated on Friday after a week of rises, due to the effects of profit-taking encouraged by a US dollar rebound.
Light sweet crude hit 72.04 dollars in New York, a fall of 64 cents compared to its closing price on Thursday.
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