Oil prices to stay high into 2008: energy consultants
LONDON (AFP) — Oil prices will remain at high levels into next year owing to tight supplies and despite fears that a weak US economy may dent crude demand, leading energy consultants said here Monday.
The Centre for Global Energy Studies also used its latest monthly report to attack OPEC, saying the oil-producing cartel had deliberately limited output in 2007 to prevent a sharp fall in crude prices, which last month almost reached a record 100 dollars.
"Although oil production at last appears to be rising, oil prices are expected to remain high over the winter and into 2008, despite fears about the true state of the US economy," CGES said.
It added: "This year OPEC deliberately kept the world short of oil in order to avoid a repeat of last year's autumn price fall, a policy that has been extremely effective from the organisation's point of view.
"As a result of OPEC's supply restraint, global oil inventories are expected to fall by 425,000 bpd (barrels per day) this year and it is difficult to see how this, combined with strongly rising prices, can be described as a market that is well supplied, as OPEC has repeatedly claimed," CGES added.
Oil prices surged to a record high 99.29 dollars a barrel on November 21, which led to widespread calls for OPEC to hike output at its meeting in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
Instead the cartel decided to freeze its daily production ceiling of 27.25 million barrels, which officially came into effect on November 1 following a production increase agreed at a meeting in September.
OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world's crude, insisted it was not responsible for the price of crude soaring to almost 100 dollars a barrel, as it pointed the finger at market speculators.
