OPEC’s secretary-general said oil prices as high as $200 a barrel are possible if producers fail to invest in new supply. Crude futures erased losses London and New York.
“If you don’t invest in oil and gas, you will see more than $200,” Abdalla El-Badri said in an interview in London on Monday, without giving a timeframe. Brent, a global benchmark, erased an earlier decline of as much as 2.5 percent and traded as high as $49.29.
Crude prices tumbled 48 percent last year as Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they wouldn’t curb output in response to a supply glut. The International Energy Agency, the Paris-based adviser to 29 nations, said Jan. 21 that a decline in prices may deter investment in all types of energy.
“He is raising a valid concern that falling investments due to the current price collapse may leave us with little oil coming out of the ground in a few years time,” Ole Sloth Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said by e-mail.
“A move back above $100 will bring the shale oil drillers out in force as they can relatively quickly react to rising prices” meaning $200 probably won’t happen.
The global oil market is currently oversupplied by about 1.5 million barrels a day and OPEC is open to a meeting with nations outside the 12-nation group to tackle the glut, El-Badri said.
Brent crude for March settlement rose as high as $49.29 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, and was trading at $48.97 at 1:31 p.m. local time. West Texas Intermediate, the main U.S. grade, advanced as much as 1.1 percent to $46.11 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
© Copyright 2026 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.