One of the world’s biggest commodities traders says the “lower for longer” era of low oil prices is nearing an end, as Brent crude approaches a more than two-year high of near $60 a barrel. Ben Luckock, co-head of group market risk at Trafigura, said the oil market was turning a corner and a belief by some market players that prices would remain within a tight $40 to $60 a barrel range would not play out. “We are nearing the end of ‘lower for longer’,” Mr Luckock said in a presentation to the annual Asia-Pacific petroleum conference on Tuesday. “This theory may have had its best days.” The comments came as a threat to Iraqi Kurdistan’s crude exports has in recent days added extra support to sentiment already brightened by robust oil demand, and Opec-led supply cutbacks that have helped shrink bloated inventories. At the start of the week, oil received a boost from Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s threat to cut off the pipeline that carries crude from northern Iraq to foreign markets, in opposition to the independence referendum taking place in Kurdistan. Mr Luckock warned of an oil crunch based on demand exceeding supply by 2m-4m barrels a day by the end of 2019 because energy companies halted $1tn of spending on new production as oil prices fell in recent years.