OPEC president uncomfortable with high oil prices

Nigeria's Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Thursday in Caracas that he was uncomfortable with high international oil prices.

"We are not comfortable with prices at such levels, because they are not supported by fundamentals, and contain the seeds of new volatility," said Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's petroleum resources minister.

Daukoru was speaking on the sidelines of the 141st special OPEC ministerial meeting in Caracas.

He said that since the last OPEC meeting in Vienna in March, OPEC's benchmark barrel had set new records, breaking above 65 U.S. dollars, twice the price of two years ago.

He cited fast economic growth, a lack of refining capacity, record futures market activity, natural disaster and geopolitical tension as being among the factors responsible for the high prices.

OPEC is determined to supply petrol in an efficient, orderly manner at "just and reasonable prices," he said.

Spare capacity in OPEC at the end of the year should be more than 10 percent, "a level which past experience has demonstrated is very acceptable for the market," he said.

He added that OPEC members had boosted production by four million barrels a day since 2002.

Source: Xinhua