The European Union (EU) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) found little in common on responses to the soaring oil prices at a meeting on Tuesday.
While the EU updated its call for the world's major oil producing countries to raise output, OPEC leaders were actually saying there is enough supply in the market, blaming a weak U.S. dollar, the U.S. sub-prime crisis and speculative activities for the current price shock.
EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs said earlier Tuesday that OPEC should remove its production ceiling in order to provide relief for the market.
"In my opinion, there is no reason to keep ceilings on production," he said ahead of the EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue, which brought together key policy makers from both sides, just two days after a global summit on oil prices in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"If there are no ceilings, markets will adapt much faster," Piebalgs said, "In this respect we could expect prices to go down, not to go up as the tendency has been till now."
However, OPEC president Chakib Khelil insisted the cartel has already done what it can do to supply the market, but prices will not come down due to other reasons.
"All you need to do is look at the data to be convinced that the market is well-supplied in oil, that we have enough surplus capacity and we have enough stocks in the market," he told reporters at a joint press conference with EU officials after the one-day dialogue.
Khelil accused the U.S. sub-prime crisis, which broke out last summer, the decline in the U.S. dollar and speculation on the financial markets of being responsible for the record high prices.
Khelil estimated the subprime crisis and the ensuing impact of the dollar devaluation and the influx of funds into oil markets contributed to a 40 U.S. dollars' hike in the price of oil.
Asked about the short-term perspective of the oil prices, Khelil said the move would largely depend on the evolution of the U.S. dollar and the geopolitical situation, which were out of OPEC's control.
"The market is waiting to see how the dollar is to evolve in July, how the geopolitical situation is going to evolve with the threats made to Iran," he said.
"So if you can answer those questions, I can answer the question concerning the price," he added.
However, Piebalgs said he was "not convinced" that speculation on financial markets was "a major factor" behind high oil prices.
"The basic difference between us and OPEC is that they believe that it is mostly speculation and in my opinion it is that market fundamentals that are not responding any more and that's why the prices are going up," he said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article