Oil prices likely to rise due to political issues

Tripoli () Oil prices are likely to keep rising but the Organisation of the Petrol Exporting Countries (Opec) has no plan to increase production for now, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation, Shokri Ganem, said. "I believe the oil price will continue rising and this is because of speculation and political issues," he said.

"We are not thinking of adding further oil to the market. We are not thinking about any such measure but we are only waiting to see what happens," added Ganem.

Oil has averaged $93.02 per barrel this year, up nearly a third from the average in 2007 of $72.30. A recent spurt, partly fuelled by a dispute between Libya's fellow Opec member Venezuela and the United States, has taken the price close to its all-time inflation-adjusted high reached in 1980.