Crude Futures Climb on Speculation Demand will Outstrip Supply this Year

The fear in the market right now is that demand will outstrip supply next winter, as a major OPEC producer said the cartel may not be able to pump enough oil to meet needs for the remainder of 2005.

Prices were given an upward nudge Tuesday after Qatar’s oil minister, Abdullah Hamad al-Attiyah, raised concerns over the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ capacity to deal with demand for the next Northern Hemisphere winter, when global consumption peaks.

“OPEC is at its highest production in history. I am concerned about that. If we reach the full capacity now, we will tighten in the fourth quarter,” Dow Jones Newswires quoted al-Attiyah as saying.

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