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Oil Price at $45 per Barrel, Waiting for Possible Stabilization in Algeria | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Cairo-International benchmark Brent crude oil futures were trading at about $45 per barrel on Tuesday.

Oil Investor T. Boone Pickens believes the price of oil will rise to a range of $55 to $60 a barrel by the end of the year, he said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

Pickens, who chairs investment firm BP Capital Management, stated he does not see crude rising to $100 a barrel, however, because of the size of U.S. reserves.

Oil prices also rose after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers were close to reaching a deal on price stability.

Oil producers are to meet on the sidelines of an industry conference in Algeria next week for talks on potentially freezing oil production, ahead of OPEC’s all-important policy meeting in November.

OPEC members could decide to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss oil prices immediately after an informal gathering in Algiers next week, Algerian Energy Minister Noor al-Deen Bouterfa said on Tuesday.

Bouterfa said he was optimistic that participants would reach a consensus on how to stabilize the oil markets at the Algiers meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Sept. 26-28.

“Oil ministers may decide to hold an extraordinary meeting immediately,” he said.

Algeria has been pushing for oil to be stabilized at around $60 a barrel. Bouterfa has travelled to Qatar, Iran and Russia to lobby for action to steady the market.

On a visit to Algiers over the weekend, Mohammed Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said an extraordinary meeting could happen if the Algeria conference produced a consensus. He said the Algiers meeting was for consultations and not decision-making.