UAE Says OPEC to Act if Oil Price Rises
biz.yahoo.com
Saturday September 15, 6:54 am Eastern Time
DUBAI (Reuters) - UAE Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said on Saturday that OPEC would act immediately to tame oil prices if they spiral out of control, but cautioned that speculators, not supply shortages, were driving up markets.
``If we find prices above an acceptable level, OPEC would take the necessary measures to halt the prices from going up sharply,'' Nasseri told reporters after opening the 10th Arab Oil and Gas Show.
Asked what level was unacceptable, he replied, referring to OPEC's $22-$28 range for a basket of seven crude oils: ``Any price above, say $30 is obviously unacceptable.''
World oil prices marched higher on Friday on fears of U.S. military retaliation for Tuesday's suicide attacks on New York and Washington, with London's Brent blend futures closing at $29.43 a barrel. That rally will push OPEC's reference oil price, which stood just over $26 on Thursday, well beyond $27 a barrel.
Nasseri said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would plot a course of action at its September 26 meeting in Vienna after scrutinizing fundamentals and prices.
``In case there is a need for correcting prices or for pumping more oil in the market we shall take the necessary decision and it should be carried out promptly and quickly,'' said the UAE oil minister. ``OPEC has a responsibility for the world, for consumers...we are not going to take advantage of this bad incident which took place in the United States.''
Nasseri stressed that the world was not short of crude oil and that steamy prices were due to speculative plays.
``The prices obviously increased after the incident in the United States, unfortunately, but there is no shortage of supply,'' said the UAE oil minister. ``What caused this rise...was merely speculation,'' he added. ''Before this incident oil prices were stable or even going down a little bit.''
Nasseri said OPEC, which has slashed output three times this year to bolster prices, should not be held responsible for crumbling world economies. ``We should not blame oil for what is happening in the world economy,'' he said. ``There are so many factors which are affecting the economy and oil's effect is very minimal.''
The UAE oil minister said the terror attacks could take a toll on global oil consumption. He said some analysts had slashed projections for demand growth next year to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) or less, a sharp decline on earlier estimates of 800,000 bpd to one million bpd. |
