Saudi’s Naimi Says Tensions Will Keep Oil Prices High

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al- Naimi, who sets policy for the world’s largest exporter, said geopolitical tensions will prevent any decline in crude prices, which rose close to a record this week.

“I have no control over prices,” al-Naimi told reporters in New Delhi today. “They are not going to come down because there are many, many issues besides supply and demand,” which are balanced, he said. Oil rose as much as 1.1 percent today.
Oil has gained 9.5 percent in New York this year on concern that a dispute over Iran’s nuclear research program may disrupt supplies from OPEC’s No. 2 producer. Rebel attacks on Nigerian oil installations cut supply from Africa’s biggest producer. The two countries account for 7.5 percent of global production.

“It’s not actual market fundamentals that are keeping oil prices high,” said Tetsu Emori, a strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures Ltd. in Tokyo who says oil may reach $96 a barrel this year. “It’s governments and politics.”

Bloomberg