Reuters cited Mr HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah deputy PM and minister of energy and industry of Qatar as saying that the recent rise in oil prices was not caused by a shortage of supply.

Crude prices hit an 18 month high of USD 87.09 per barrel on April 6th 2010 although they have since slipped to just under USD 83.

Mr Attiyah told reporters ahead of a meeting of gas powers in the Algerian city of Oran that the oil price is not related at all to there being a shortage. Inventory is very comfortable and evens the highest in history. Investor expectation that a global recovery would lift oil consumption has led prices to almost triple from a low near USD 32 in December 2008, even though there have been few signs yet of higher demand materializing.

At a meeting in Vienna last month, OPEC ministers agreed to leave output targets unchanged, continuing with a supply policy agreed at an OPEC meeting in Algeria in December 2008.

The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized economies, warned that oil prices at USD 85 could endanger the fragile recovery by feeding into higher energy costs for businesses and consumers. Oil prices have nearly tripled from the lows near USD 30 per barrel seen at the end of 2008 to around USD 85 per barrel as investors’ eye signs of an economic recovery.

(Sourced from Reuters)