Related: OPEC agrees to maintain production quotas
OPEC special meeting opens in Caracas
Oil prices fall below 71 dollars on improved energy stocks
CARACAS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru, president of
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Thursday 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 OPECministerial
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. Enditem