Total boss rules out oil price recovery in 2016

Oil prices are not expected to rise next year, the head of French energy giant Total told reporters in Qatar on Monday.

“We don’t anticipate a recovery in 2016,” Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.

“Having said that I don’t know if the price will be at 40, 45, 50, 60” dollars per barrel, he added.

“In 2016 the growth of capacity will still be larger than the growth of demand.”

Oil prices have nosedived by more than 60 percent in the last 18 months, with the world’s largest oil producing nations defying calls to reduce output.

Crude prices fell heavily on Friday as West Texas Intermediate sank 1.0 percent and Brent lost 1.9.

Pouyanne added that Total had budgeted to meet the continued lower oil prices and ruled out any job losses in the near future.

He is one of several big names from the oil industry attending the conference, including the CEO of Shell, Ben Van Beurden and Amin Nasser, the president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.

The conference was opened by the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani.