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Tuesday, 23 August, 2011, 5:8 ( 3:8 GMT )
Editorial/OP-ED




Libya Doesn't Support Opec Meeting, Oil at $100 a Barrel in Justified
08/02/2011 10:34:00
Libya voiced caution on Wednesday on the need for OPEC to meet this month in order to discuss raising production, saying that oil at $100 a barrel is justified by a weaker dollar and rising food costs.

Speaking to Reuters, Libya's chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Shokri Ghanem hailed higher prices at $100 per barrel even though other members of OPEC such as Saudi Arabia seem not favor the trend.

While agreeing with others in OPEC that there was no shortage of oil in the market, Ghanem went a step further to say that $US100 oil was necessary to offset higher food costs and the reduced purchasing power of a weaker dollar.

"I don't think there is a need for a meeting, whether it is a side meeting or an official meeting or extraordinary meeting at this point in time," Ghanem said.

Ghanem, who predicted last year oil would rally above $US100, said he was happy to see prices back there.

An OPEC delegate said on Sunday OPEC ministers would hold talks on the sidelines of an energy conference in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 22.

The head of the International Energy Agency reiterated his call for OPEC to be "flexible" in its policy.

Brent crude hit $US100 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time since 2008 on concern that oil flows through Egypt could be disrupted and that tension could spread into other big producers in the Middle East and North Africa.

OPEC's top producer Saudi Arabia takes a relatively moderate stance on oil prices, favouring a price range of $US70 to $Us80.

"I am pleased also because it is a good compensation for the loss of the dollar value and the increase in the price of the other commodities, especially the food ones," he said.

"The market is well supplied, we are not of the opinion of having any action at this point in time," Ghanem said.

The head of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, which advises 28 industrialized countries, said today the global oil market does not face any emergency but urged OPEC to be "flexible." “It is not an emergency now," Tanaka told Reuters.

“If a disruption happens, we should act," he said. "What we are asking OPEC is to be flexible," said Tanaka. OPEC's Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said Tuesday on the sidelines of the IEF event were unlikely to decide on production as it was not an extraordinary meeting.
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