Benchmark Brent crude is expected to average at $39 per barrel in 2016 and this will bring the price of Kuwaiti crude to $34 per barrel, predicted Mohammad Al Shatti, a Kuwaiti oil affairs expert.

He stated that this projection is in line with falling crude oil prices during the first quarter of the year with a gradual recovery expected during the second half of 2016.

“Moreover, the disparity in prices between Gulf oil and Brent crude could further widen as a means of keeping the market afloat and maintaining a level of competition between oil producers”, says Al Shatti as quoted by the Kuwait Times.

The fall in oil prices comes amid bleak conditions as the price of Brent crude reached a record $115 per barrel in June 2014 only to plummet to $30 per barrel in January 2016.

The expert further added that increasing hostilities between some of the world’s largest oil producers and nations with “massive oil reserves”, no longer has a bearing on oil prices, a testament to what he said was “oil versatility”. The price of Kuwaiti oil now stands at $24 per barrel, a decline not seen in 12 years, he stated.