|
World oil prices rose to within touching distance of a record-high
point of $143 a barrel on Monday, as French truckers protested
against high fuel costs and energy leaders met to discuss soaring
crude.
New York crude oil had hit an all-time record of
$142.99 a barrel on Friday as the US currency remained weak. The
ailing dollar has fueled demand for oil, which is priced in dollars,
from traders holding stronger currencies.
In early European trading on Monday, London’s
Brent crude struck a record-high $142.98 a barrel, one cent above
its previous high reached last Friday.
Brent North Sea oil for August delivery later
stood at $142.60 a barrel, a rise of $2.29 from Friday’s close.
Meanwhile, New York’s main oil contract, light
sweet crude for August delivery, jumped by $2.35 to $142.56 a barrel
on Monday, after an intra-day peak of $142.94.
Crude futures have doubled in the past year,
triggering fears over inflation and slower economic growth.
On Monday, high fuel prices sparked protests
among hundreds of truckers across France, blocking main highways and
snarling commuter traffic around Paris.
Leading figures in the oil world gathered in
Madrid on Monday for one of the industry’s biggest events that
will focus on the future of the sector at a time of unprecedented
crude prices.
A week after failing to deflate the price of
crude at a summit in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil
producers and consumers will get another chance during talks in
London to explore ways of calming tense global energy markets.
More than 3,000 delegates, including leading
corporate and political figures, are attending the four-day World
Petroleum Congress, which runs from Monday to Thursday after an
official opening reception on Sunday.
One of the main points of contention in the
petroleum congress is the role of speculators, who are blamed
consistently by producer countries for the doubling of crude prices
over the last 12 months.
Western oil chiefs, backing the view of
governments in consumer countries, insisted on Monday that
speculators were the wrong target and that the failure of supply to
match rising demand was the real cause.
“This is a fundamental thing. It’s not about
speculation,” the chief executive of British oil group BP, Tony
Hayward, told delegates at the congress. It was a “myth” that
speculators were to blame, Hayward said.
“Investors is a better word than speculators.
They are investing in the oil market because they believe prices
will go up,” he added.
Jeroen van der Veer, head of British-Dutch oil
group Shell, also said blaming speculators was wrong, adding that
the role of the market was “the translation of things that might
happen in the future into the price.”
The president of the Organization of
Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC), the head of the International
Energy Agency and ministers from Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela, India,
France and the Netherlands are expected to be present at the
petroleum congress.
Saudi Arabia held a hastily arranged meeting of
consumers and producers in Jeddah 10 days ago to tackle the problem
of record oil prices, which were forecast by OPEC’s president last
week to touch $150 to $170 a barrel in the coming months.
Most experts agreed afterwards that the only
concrete result from Jeddah was Saudi Arabia’s announcement that
it would increase daily production by more than 200,000 barrels to
9.7 million.
The gathering pitted consumer nations, which are
calling for an increase in production, against producers.
Most OPEC members remain firmly against any
increase in their production and blame speculators and the fall in
the dollar for the remarkable run-up in prices, which have doubled
in the last 12 months.
Western oil bosses are keen to pin the blame for
high oil prices on a lack of supply. They are excluded from many
countries by governments keen to see their national oil companies
retain a monopoly on oil and gas production.
The conference in London offers leading world
energy policymakers and company chiefs the opportunity to explore
the challenges facing the industry, from environmental pressures to
the search for new supplies.
Environmental policy is set to take center
stage, with the industry keen to stress the opportunities presented
by the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions while stressing the
long-term need for fossil fuels.
Excitement is growing about a new and
underdeveloped technology called carbon capture and storage, which
would enable carbon dioxide to be extracted from emissions and then
buried underground.
The technology remains expensive and unproved,
but both BP and Shell called for more public support for its
development, saying the technology would become commercially viable
only once carbon pollution was penalized.
-- AFP
|
