Khaleej Times cited Mr Mohammed Al Hamili oil minister of UAE as saying that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries believes the global oil market is well supplied, in spite of a recent rally in crude prices and signs that an economic recovery is starting to gain momentum.

The UAE’s Mr Al Hamili declined to predict what OPEC which pumps about one-third of the world’s crude would decide to do when its oil ministers meet on December 22nd 2009 in Luanda of Angola. He said that the market is well supplied. There is a lot of oil in the market. If markets want more oil, we have more.

OPEC, in its most recent forecast said that it expects world oil demand to fall 2009 by 1.4 million barrels per day. He said that “We have to wait and see first of all how the world economy is recovering. Now there are signs of a recovery. He added that recovery hopes and speculation were key drivers of the rise in oil prices over the past two months.

Mr Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos president of OPEC said separately that if oil prices were rise to USD 100 per barrel, the group would agree to boost production at its planned meeting in December to try to protect the nascent recovery.

Mr Botelho de Vasconcelos who also is Angola’s oil minister said that both producers and consumers were comfortable with oil prices at between USD 75 per barrels and USD 80 per barrel and those higher prices could put a brake on the worldwide economy.

Mr Nobuo Tanaka head of the International Energy Agency told the same Moscow conference that he believed global energy prices could spike within the next several years as a result of under investment and possibly lead to a supply crunch in 2014 or 2015.

(Sourced from khaleejtimes.com)