06-29-2008, 09:28 PM
No relief as OPEC tips $US170 oil
* June 29, 2008
* Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View
THE president of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, has predicted that the price of oil will climb to $US170 a barrel before the end of the year on a fall in the value of the US dollar and political conflicts.
Political pressure on Iran and the depreciation of the US dollar had caused a surge in oil prices, said Mr Khelil, who also serves as Algeria's oil minister.
New York-traded crude has more than doubled in a year and touched a record $US142.99 a barrel at the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday. This has pushed prices at the pump in Australia to more than $1.70 a litre for premium unleaded petrol.
An oil price of $US170 a barrel would push the price of petrol to just under $2 a litre.
Mr Khelil's comments come as the world's biggest crude producers and consumers gather in Madrid today to discuss the crisis over rising fuel prices.
More than 3000 delegates, including leading corporate and political figures, will meet at the 19th World Petroleum Congress after last week's attempt by Saudi Arabia to reduce the cost of oil by boosting output among producer nations failed to agree on concerted action.
The president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to be joined in Madrid by the head of the International Energy Agency and ministers from Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela, India, France and the Netherlands. The bosses of oil giants ExxonMobil of the US, CNOOC of China, Britain's BP and Shell, Rosneft of Russia and Total of France are also expected to attend.
OPEC ministers say that oil output is sufficient, even as Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer, pledged to pump an extra 200,000 barrels a day next month to calm the market.
Most experts agreed after last week's meeting that the only concrete result was Saudi Arabia's announcement of extra production which it could significantly step up if necessary.
Most OPEC members remain firmly against any increase in their outputs and blame speculators and the US dollar's fall for the price increases. Continued...
*
"The market is completely supplied," the Venezuelan Oil Minister, Rafael Ramirez, said yesterday. Libya announced possible production cuts, calling the market oversupplied.
The rising cost of crude was not linked to supply, Mr Khelil said. "There is more than enough oil in the market to meet the international demand."
Prices, which are up 38 per cent this quarter, are heading for the biggest quarterly gain since the first three months of 1999, when oil traded between $US11 and $US17 a barrel.
As yet, there appears no sign of the price pressure easing with the investment guru Jim Rogers the latest to predict that the only direction is upward.
Mr Rogers, who two years ago correctly predicted oil would reach $US100 a barrel, told investors at a conference in China over the weekend that he expected prices to go even higher than their present level. They will keep rising, "unless someone finds a major oilfield very quickly, in accessible areas", he said.
However, the chief executive of BG group, the British energy giant which last week lobbed a $US13.8 billion ($14.4 billion) hostile bid at Australian power generator and retailer Origin Energy, said yesterday he did not believe the oil price rises would last.
"The current prices, if you look at the underlying long-run marginal cost of oil production, are too high to be sustained," Frank Chapman told ABC1 yesterday. "There is a good deal of speculative anxiety because of geopolitical effects, holding the price up."
Many analysts think oil prices will hit at least $US150 a barrel before they come down sharply.
"At that point, we will start to see more signs of demand destruction and an eventual tipping point in oil markets," said Deutsche Bank in a research note.
Bloomberg and AFP
http://business.watoday.com.au/no-relief-a...yup.html?page=2
* June 29, 2008
* Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View
THE president of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, has predicted that the price of oil will climb to $US170 a barrel before the end of the year on a fall in the value of the US dollar and political conflicts.
Political pressure on Iran and the depreciation of the US dollar had caused a surge in oil prices, said Mr Khelil, who also serves as Algeria's oil minister.
New York-traded crude has more than doubled in a year and touched a record $US142.99 a barrel at the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday. This has pushed prices at the pump in Australia to more than $1.70 a litre for premium unleaded petrol.
An oil price of $US170 a barrel would push the price of petrol to just under $2 a litre.
Mr Khelil's comments come as the world's biggest crude producers and consumers gather in Madrid today to discuss the crisis over rising fuel prices.
More than 3000 delegates, including leading corporate and political figures, will meet at the 19th World Petroleum Congress after last week's attempt by Saudi Arabia to reduce the cost of oil by boosting output among producer nations failed to agree on concerted action.
The president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to be joined in Madrid by the head of the International Energy Agency and ministers from Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela, India, France and the Netherlands. The bosses of oil giants ExxonMobil of the US, CNOOC of China, Britain's BP and Shell, Rosneft of Russia and Total of France are also expected to attend.
OPEC ministers say that oil output is sufficient, even as Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer, pledged to pump an extra 200,000 barrels a day next month to calm the market.
Most experts agreed after last week's meeting that the only concrete result was Saudi Arabia's announcement of extra production which it could significantly step up if necessary.
Most OPEC members remain firmly against any increase in their outputs and blame speculators and the US dollar's fall for the price increases. Continued...
*
"The market is completely supplied," the Venezuelan Oil Minister, Rafael Ramirez, said yesterday. Libya announced possible production cuts, calling the market oversupplied.
The rising cost of crude was not linked to supply, Mr Khelil said. "There is more than enough oil in the market to meet the international demand."
Prices, which are up 38 per cent this quarter, are heading for the biggest quarterly gain since the first three months of 1999, when oil traded between $US11 and $US17 a barrel.
As yet, there appears no sign of the price pressure easing with the investment guru Jim Rogers the latest to predict that the only direction is upward.
Mr Rogers, who two years ago correctly predicted oil would reach $US100 a barrel, told investors at a conference in China over the weekend that he expected prices to go even higher than their present level. They will keep rising, "unless someone finds a major oilfield very quickly, in accessible areas", he said.
However, the chief executive of BG group, the British energy giant which last week lobbed a $US13.8 billion ($14.4 billion) hostile bid at Australian power generator and retailer Origin Energy, said yesterday he did not believe the oil price rises would last.
"The current prices, if you look at the underlying long-run marginal cost of oil production, are too high to be sustained," Frank Chapman told ABC1 yesterday. "There is a good deal of speculative anxiety because of geopolitical effects, holding the price up."
Many analysts think oil prices will hit at least $US150 a barrel before they come down sharply.
"At that point, we will start to see more signs of demand destruction and an eventual tipping point in oil markets," said Deutsche Bank in a research note.
Bloomberg and AFP
http://business.watoday.com.au/no-relief-a...yup.html?page=2