Oil speculators ‘riding roughshod’ over OPEC, say analysts

VIENNA, March 6, 2008 (AFP) – OPEC’s move to keep oil output unchanged was a message to the market that crude supplies are sufficient, a view not shared by speculators who pushed the price of crude to fresh record highs on Thursday, analysts said.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces 40 percent of the world’s oil, decided at an output policy meeting on Wednesday in Vienna to maintain its daily crude production target of 29.67 million barrels.


Following the decision, the price of New York crude rose to new all-time highs, reaching more than 105 dollars per barrel on Thursday.

“Prices surged in the fallout from what was an absolute hysterical reaction to OPEC’s decision” and news that US crude inventories had fallen last week, said the Schork Report, which provides analysis of energy markets.

“Thus, when OPEC tells us the (oil supply and demand) fundamentals have decoupled from prices and the speculators are running roughshod over the futures market, they have a point,” it added.

AFP