PARIS (Reuters) - An expected increase in U.S. oil exports could weigh on oil prices towards the end of the year, the chief executive of French energy company Total said on Wednesday.
Speaking to France's BFM Business TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Pouyanne said there were many factors weighing on oil prices, yet a key one was related to the situation in the United States.
One of the main reasons as to why prices were expected to be weak was because in the United States - a major oil producer - a good part of its production was not being exported because of bottlenecks at the pipelines.
"These are being constructed, and when it will be done at the end of the year, there will be an influx of U.S. crude in the market and this will drag prices lower towards the end of the year," Pouyanne said.