Associated Press As oil buyers, sellers close out meeting, price of crude creeps higher Monday September 23, 3:12 am ET
By DIRK BEVERIDGE, AP Business Writer
OSAKA, Japan (AP) -- Oil futures shot above $30 per barrel early Monday as the world's top crude producers and importers wrapped up a three-day energy conference overshadowed by worries about prices that have been nudged higher by Iraqi war fears. ADVERTISEMENT
"We are watching the market closely, but we are not concerned yet," OPEC Secretary-General Alvaro Silva Calderon said on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, held every two years to promote market stability through dialogue between buyers and sellers.
Silva reiterated that OPEC will put more crude onto the market if OPEC's price breaks out of its target range between $22 and $28 for 20 trading days.
Crude to be delivered in November was up 59 cents at $30.39 in after-hours computer trading operated by the New York Mercantile Exchange, on concerns that U.S. President George W. Bush could be getting closer to ordering an attack to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The New York futures price is for a premium-grade oil worth about $2 more than OPEC's average barrel.
Traders fear war could disrupt supplies.
Big importers in the West wanted OPEC to raise its official output ceiling during a meeting in Osaka last week, but the oil producers refused, insisting supply remains adequate and the price is inflated by a so-called "war premium" estimated at $2 to $4 per barrel.
The United States and European Union worry that expensive oil will harm their economies, but Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi reiterated his view that $25 per barrel -- the center of OPEC's target range -- is fair to all concerned.
Naimi defended OPEC's price range, telling a news conference that a complete laissez-faire approach would push oil a lows as $3 to $5 during downturns, devastating to producers, while spikes might send it as high as $65, which would hammer consumers and hurt demand.
Another OPEC figure, Nigerian presidential oil adviser Rilwanu Lukman, declined to predict what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries might do if prices keep advancing.
"We'll just have to see how far it will go up," Lukman told a reporter.
On Sunday, the top EU energy official rejected charges that Washington's saber-rattling caused the high price.
"To blame the Americans over the price of the oil is very simple, but this is not the reality," EU Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio said in an interview. "I don't agree that it is the fault of the Americans."
The energy forum has facilitated dialogue and also underscored the sharp differences between buyers and sellers.
"As they say, there is no lasting friendship, but there may be a lasting interest and that's what we should concentrate on," United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said Monday.
Participants from 65 nations and 10 international organizations say they'd like to establish a permanent secretariat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to facilitate greater communication in the future.