Rodriguez has a doubt that a proposal by Saudi Arabia to hike OPEC quotas...
The head of Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela Ali Rodriguez gave a guess: the reason of high oil prices is in oil speculation, the war in Iraq and low U.S. refinery capacity, not global short supply. Rodriguez said that, contrary to general sentiment, the market was well supplied.
However, that opinion differs from ones of many experts, who consider the growth of global oil demand to be the main factor.
Rodriguez has a doubt that a proposal by Saudi Arabia to hike OPEC quotas by 1.5 million barrels per day would not bring the price of oil down.
Venezuela's oil output currently falls short of its OPEC quota of 2.704 million bpd, experts have said, meaning the South American country could not contribute to any fresh OPEC output hike.
June crude oil futures on the NYMEX were gaining more than $41 per barrel Wednesday afternoon. That is less than a dollar below their peak of $41.85 on Monday to mark the highest price for prompt crude since NYMEX launched the crude oil futures contract in 1983.
