Oil is going through 'price correction'

Dubai :  The oil market is going through a "correction" in prices, UAE Minister of Energy Mohammad Bin Dha'en Al Hamili said yesterday in Qatar.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is unlikely to meet again before October, as the market is "well supplied" and prices are being set by "market force," Al Hamili said before today's scheduled meeting with Arab oil ministers.

The oil officials will gather in Doha from May 9 to 12 for a conference hosted by Opec, which includes seven of Opec's 12 members. The meeting follows last week's 13 per cent decline in oil prices, the biggest drop since December 2008, as US gasoline inventories exceed seasonal norms and Europe struggles with a Greek debt crisis that may slow the economic recovery and demand for crude.

Opec won't need to take any action in response to the Greek debt crisis, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said yesterday. Prices have dropped because of "uncertainty on the market and the economy," Khelil said in Doha.

Asked if he expected Opec to take steps to prevent further declines, he said: "I don't think so." Oil is likely to trade in a band of $80 to $85 a barrel, he said. "There is plenty of oil, the stocks are high," Khelil said.

Oil, which rose to an 18-month high of $87.15 on May 3, settled Friday at $75.11 in New York.