Business | Oil & Gas
Channel Sponsor
Opec doubts fields ageing too fast
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) secretary-general Abdullah Al Badri said on Friday he was not worried about reports of faster-than-expected depletion in the world's biggest oil fields.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:11 May 25, 2008
Ecuador: Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) secretary-general Abdullah Al Badri said on Friday he was not worried about reports of faster-than-expected depletion in the world's biggest oil fields.
Oil climbed toward $132 a barrel on Friday, driven by a weaker dollar and as nagging concerns about stagnating production in Russia and other countries outside the Opec group continued.
Some analysts are concerned that many of the world's biggest oil deposits are drying up and that global oil production has peaked.
Speculation
Badri repeated his position that runaway prices are caused by speculation in the marketplace and not by supply issues.
"These prices have nothing to do with shortages of oil in the market, it has to do with other factors," he said on a visit to an oil block in the Ecuadorean jungle. Mexico on Friday reported a sharp fall in output in April at its huge Cantarell offshore field which is in rapid decline.
Analysts and industry officials have predicted for decades that the world's oil output may soon plateau but oil companies downplay the "peak oil" theory.
BP data suggest the world has proven oil reserves of 1.2 trillion barrels, enough to sustain current output for 40 years.
Share this article
More from Oil & Gas
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
Budget travel
Airlines in the region
Take a pictorial look at some of the budget airlines in GCC
Business Editor's choice
-
Credit swaps... a fair trade
Would you swap an unbuilt unit at the Lagoons for an apartment at JBR?
-
In pictures: New BMW Z4
The new model is much more user-friendly and driver focused
-
Lebanon realty robust
Overseas Lebanese fuel real estate surge
