Statoil’s chief executive Eldar Saetre is “optimistic” that OPEC and non-OPEC countries will agree to extend oil output curbs to reduce a global supply glut.
He said: “It will support the direction towards rebalancing (of oil markets), and we see that we are getting to balance, and we expect this balance situation to occur during the second half of this year.”
He added that as the market rebalances global stores will start to be depleted.
But he added that he expects the rebalancing period to go on “deeply into 2018”.
Saetre said: “Our basic assumption is that it (the oil price) could be at $75 (a barrel) by 2020, but there is a lot of uncertainty in this rebalancing … I don’t have a better timeline (of market’s tighten up) than 2020.”
OPEC and the non-cartel producers are due to meet in Vienna on May 25.
Sources are suggesting that an OPEC panel was considering the idea of deepening the output cuts
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