The weekly average oil prices of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) set anew record of 131.60 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb) last week, the Vienna-based cartel said on Monday.
Oil prices have remained above 129 dollars for three consecutive weeks, 1.86 dollars higher than the previous record of129.74 dpb set in the second week of June.
The daily prices touched 129.87 dpb on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a consecutive demand drop. The prices surged back to a record high of 135.31 dpb on Friday, following Libya's announcement it was considering an output cut.
Analysts attributed part of the price hike to stock investors, who dished out stocks and turned to the commodity market amid the global stock slump on Friday.
They also blamed the hike on some OPEC figures, who had forecast a future price of over 150 dpb, stoking speculations in the oil market.
OPEC President Chakib Khelil on Thursday predicted a possible price of 150 dpb to 170 dpb for this summer. Khelil insisted there was more than enough oil in the market, while blaming the dollar's devaluation and speculations for the price hike.
Hodschatollah Ghanimifard, the director of the International Department of the National Iranian Oil Company, also said that the current high oil prices could not be attributed to the supply shortage and that 150 dpb would be seen.
Oil traders are deeply concern about the current vicious circle in the oil market.
Experts say the recent price trend reflects that the market is quite tense. They expect the opinion differences among OPEC countries, speculations, the geopolitical crisis and the devaluating dollar to continue boosting oil prices in the short run.
Source: Xinhua
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