Iraq oil minister sees oil at $60 a barrel in second quarter

"Iraq will stay committed to OPEC decisions and compensate its overproduction", he said in the interview. Abdul Jabbar said Saudi Arabia’s voluntary output cut of 1 million bpd helped to prevent oil market from collapsing. On Friday, Brent fell $1.32, or 2.3%, to settle at $55.10 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 settled down $1.21, or 2.3%, at $52.36 a barrel.

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar expects oil prices to reach around $60 in the second quarter of 2021, he said in an interview with Iraq's Sharqiya TV on Friday.

The minister added that in past meetings he had asked OPEC members to allow Iraq to postpone compensating for earlier overproduction and this had helped to "bring back hope to Iraq's economy". "Iraq will stay committed to OPEC decisions and compensate its overproduction", he said in the interview.

Abdul Jabbar said Saudi Arabia's voluntary output cut of 1 million bpd helped to prevent oil market from collapsing. On Friday, Brent fell $1.32, or 2.3%, to settle at $55.10 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 settled down $1.21, or 2.3%, at $52.36 a barrel. (Reporting By Ahmed Rashed; Editing by Toby Chopra and David Gregorio)