Global economic growth and political turbulence were the reasons for rising oil prices
Global economic growth and political turbulence were the reasons for rising oil prices, while OPEC continues to work for a balanced market, a Kuwait oil ministry official said in remarks published yesterday, Kuwait Times reported.
Prices have been supported this week by comments from OPEC officials who said the producer group would not increase output when it next meets in September.
"OPEC is working to maintain an equilibrium in the market," Nawal Al-Fuzaie, an assistant undersecretary at the OPEC member state's oil ministry, told the state-run news agency. "The upward trend in global oil prices is due to increasing growth in (the) global economy, which in turn affects global demand for oil and products," she said. "The other factor is geopolitical developments."
Political tensions in some of oil-producing regions in the Middle East such as tensions between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program were also contributing to high oil prices, she said.
Kuwait says it has oil reserves of 100 billion barrels, meaning the Gulf Arab state has the world's fifth largest reserves after Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
