Published on 12:00 AM, July 07, 2008

International Business News

Opec president warns no end to oil price rises

Opec president Chakib Khelil warned Sunday that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar, in an interview in the Algeria-News.
"The price of oil will rise again in the coming weeks. We have to follow the evolution of the dollar, because a one percent fall in the dollar means four dollars more on the price of oil," Khelil, who is Algeria's minister of energy and mines, told the independent daily.
"As producer countries we think that the current supply is sufficient, that this balance in supply is in everybody's interests and that it shouldn't be disturbed, because the current rise in oil prices is in nobody's interest," the head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries stressed.
He also commented on the geopolitical effects on the price of oil, notably the crisis between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme and rejected the theory that oil cartel members were against boosting production to put a downward pressure on prices.
"I believe that 60 percent of the rise is due to the fall in the exchange rate of the dollar and to geopolitical problems, and 40 percent to the intrusion of bioethanol on the market," he said.