Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens on Monday reiterated his prediction that crude oil prices would hit $75 a barrel this year as producers scale back production.

Pickens said about OPEC producers: They told you they want $75 by the end of the year, I would count on that, I believe them.

OPEC has scaled back output to help support crude prices, which have dropped from record highs over $147 a barrel in July to around $47 a barrel on Monday.

I think you are going to clean up the stocks because the people who have the oil are cutting supply, Pickens said at an alternative fuels and vehicles conference, referring to the nearly 19-year high on U.S. inventories of crude oil reported last week by the federal government.

The United States would likely burn through its supply overhang in three months, he told reporters.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by John Picinich)

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