Oil Prices Could Reach $150 Per Barrel This Winter, Iraqi Foreign Minister Says
15:41 GMT 27.09.2022 (Updated: 16:43 GMT 08.01.2023)
© Sputnik / Evgeny Odinikov
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UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The price of oil could soar to $150 per barrel during the coming winter season, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Sputnik.
"We are approaching winter, and I have the feeling that the price of oil is going to be higher and higher in the coming few months. Perhaps, it will reach 150 or something like that," Hussein said on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Fuel prices skyrocketed this year after the US, Britain, and the EU slapped sanctions on Moscow citing the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. The sanctions also led to record-high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis in many countries across the globe.
Russia-Ukraine Settlement
The minister also noted that Iraq - as part of a contact group on Ukraine - has engaged with officials from both Moscow and Kiev recently, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to help negotiate a resolution to the conflict.
"We talked about how we can help to bring both sides together… [Lavrov] was not so optimistic about the reaction of the Ukrainians, because he said the Ukrainians are not the ones who can decide, it is up to the Americans," Hussein said. "We are trying [to negotiate peace]. I don’t know if we will succeed."
A ceasefire is needed first to create a successful negotiation environment, Hussein added. However, neither Russia nor Ukraine are ready to negotiate with each other at this moment, according to Hussein.
A serviceman of Russian private military company Wagner Group shoots from a 122 mm D30 howitzer at the Ukrainian positions, as Russia's military operation in Ukraine continues, in the suburbs of Bakhmut, Donetsk People's Republic
© Sputnik / Viktor Antonyuk
/ Iraq is part of an Arab League contact group on Ukraine with whom Lavrov spoke last week about the genesis of the conflict in Ukraine. The meeting came on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, where the situation in Ukraine and related issues such as food insecurity have been central themes.
