SAN MARTINO IN CAMPO, Italy (Reuters) - The chief executive of Italian oil company Eni said on Saturday he saw crude oil prices as low as $70 a barrel as demand softens.

“There are the conditions for prices to go below $100 per barrel,” Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni said during a conference.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, he said: “I think that soon the price could drop as low as $70-$75 a barrel.”
Scaroni said that in recent days demand had fallen 4 percent in Europe, and 2 percent in the United States, with the two regions representing 40 percent of world demand.
U.S. crude oil futures rose 31 cents on Friday to $101.18 a barrel after dropping below $100 for the first time since early April as concerns over U.S. economic weakness outweighed storm disruption fears.
Oil prices are down about 30 percent from a peak of over $147 a barrel hit in mid-July, pulled lower by softening demand and a recent rebound in the U.S. dollar.
The sluggish global demand for fuel has weighed on oil prices even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to cut output this week and the U.S. Department of Energy reported larger-than-expected draws in crude inventories in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.
A report that Saudi Arabia had no plans to cut output, despite OPEC’s agreement in Vienna this week to trim supply neutralised much of the bullish effect of the OPEC’s announcement that it would cut production.