OPEC Sec Gen says oil price rally may persist

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VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said on Friday he saw oil prices at $70 to $75 a barrel by the end of the year, making him the latest official from the group to predict the current rally will persist.

Badri, speaking to reporters the day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep oil output steady, also said inventory levels would be important in any decision of the group to raise output.

OPEC ministers, including Ali al-Naimi of Saudi Arabia, have said this week the world was ready to cope with oil at $75-$80 and that it could reach that level before the end of the year. It hit a 2009 high above $66 on Friday.

“If this current trend continues, this recovery as we see it coming now, I think, by year-end, we’ll see prices in the range of $70 to $75 a barrel,” Badri told a group of reporters at OPEC’s headquarters.

Reuters