China, the world's top energy user, is keen to boost cleaner burning natural gas consumption to tackle air pollution.

In November 2011, Iraq signed a $17 billion deal to form a joint venture to gather, process and market gas from three oil fields in the oil-rich province of Basra. The fields are the 17.8 billion-barrel Rumaila, the 4.1 billion barrel Zubair field and the 8.6 billion barrel West Qurna Stage 1.

OPEC launched a price war against U.S. shale and other high-cost producers, including Canadian oil sands and Brazilian deep-water oilfields, in November 2014 by not reducing output despite a global oversupply. Since then, oil prices have plunged by more than half, hitting a 12-year low of about $26 on Feb. 11.

"The practice of filling the market with cheap oil at any cost is wrong -- half a year or a year later it could be sold at twice as high," Leonid Fedun, vice-president of Lukoil, Russia's second largest oil producer, was quoted as saying.

Demand for OPEC's oil will rise to an average 31.65 million b/d in 2016, from 29.90 million b/d in 2015, the producer group said in its latest monthly report.

Only a gentle recovery in oil prices is seen. OPEC's basket of crude oils is assumed in the report at $55 in 2015 and to rise by $5 a year to reach $80 by 2020.

The trend demonstrates Russia's resolve not to cut output despite calls from OPEC to independent producers to curb production to support falling prices.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it expects the price of its basket of crudes to rise to $70 a barrel in 2020 and $95 a barrel in 2040, compared with​$30.74 a barrel on Monday.

OPEC assumes that prices will rise to average $80 a barrel in nominal terms in 2020, and $70.70 in real terms. Last year it had anticipated nominal prices of $110 and real levels of $95.40. That means the value of the group’s output in 2020 would be $218 billion less than estimated a year ago, when it first embarked on the policy to protect market share.

Global energy demand is set to increase by almost 50% in the period to 2040, with the overall energy mix continuing to be led by fossil fuels at almost 78%