OPEC oil prices hit record high
14/9/2007 17:15
Daily average oil prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) rose by US$1.08 to a record US$74.21 per barrel Wednesday,
US$0.54 higher than the previous high on July 20, the cartel's secretariat said
yesterday.
The rise shows that OPEC's decision to increase daily output by
500,000 barrels starting from Nov. 1 at its 145th ministerial conference in
Vienna Tuesday is not enough to restrain soaring oil prices.
But Hasan
Qabazard, director of OPEC's research division, said in Vienna yesterday that
the hurricane impact on oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican oil
pipeline blasts had caused oil prices to soar.
The rising prices were also
compensating for the current weakness in the dollar, he said, but adding that if
calculated in euros, the price - slightly over 50 euros per barrel - would still
be around 10 per cent below last year's all time high.
He believed that the
current crude oil supply in the world market was sufficient, while the shortage
of the refinery capability would last many years.
Market analysts, however,
believed that because of the recent unexpected reduction in crude oil stocks in
the United States, OPEC's 500,000-barrel-a-day increase would not stabilize oil
prices, only worsen the worry about the shortage of supply in the
market.
They warned that with the upcoming demand peak for heating oil in
winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the rising speculation would mean oil prices
would continue to increase in the near future.
Xinhua
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