MUSCAT: International oil prices currently hovering at around $75 per barrel are “fair” and reflective of a global recovery that has been underway following the devastating slump triggered by the pandemic last year, Dr Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhy, Minister of Energy and Minerals, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
In an interview to Energy Intelligence, a leading Singapore-based portal for global energy related data and analysis, Dr Al Rumhy, commented: “I think from my point of view the market is fair,"
He further added: "Don't forget where we came from ... I'm talking about two or three years ago when [the price of oil] was $100. Today $75, it's 25 per cent less than what it was.”.
The comments came ahead of Thursday’s keenly anticipated meeting of ministers from the Opec+ alliance, which includes non-Opec Oman, which will review their production policy amid calls by some producers to lift output curbs.
Energy Intelligence also cited Dr Al Rumhy as stating that it’s “safer” to have global oil prices at current levels to help ensure sustained investments in the upstream activities.
"We producers believe a healthy oil price is a healthy world economy. And when the oil price is very low, it's not just us who suffer, the whole world suffers. There's a clear correlation between world GDP growth ... and the oil price movement."
He added however that Oman, among several other producers, is not keen to see prices returning to pre-pandemic peak levels. "I think many of us don't wish to go back to $100," he stated.
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