Abdul-Mahdi: Oil prices will be reflected on the economics of producing and consuming countries

It is worth mentioning that global oil prices have witnessed a significant decrease which is the first of its kind in five years, causing damage to many countries, including Iraq.

Abdul-Mahdi said in a speech at an oil conference held in Kuwait that "oil prices now reached the bottom and it is difficult to record a further drop."

Abdul-Mahdi predicted "Oil prices to witness ups and downs with a tendency to rise in the coming months", adding that "the low prices will reflect negatively on important economic sectors in the producing and consuming countries, and it will be a major blow to investments in alternative and renewable energy sectors

The Iraqi oil minister presented two proposals "to address the decline in oil prices," the first left the price drops to a certain extent till all the marginal producers who need high oil price to continue their production go out of the market, and thus (OPEC) get rid of surplus without loss of one barrel of market share. The second is that (OPEC) would reduce the 5 per cent of its production, equivalent to about 1.5 million barrels per day. "