IEA Chief Says Oil May Rise to $150 on China Demand

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) — Oil prices may rise to as high as $150 a barrel because of booming demand from India and China, according to the director of the International Energy Agency.

“In a very high growth scenario in China and India it may move up to $150,” Nobuo Tanaka said in an interview in Paris today. Those countries “are consuming energy in a very, very substantial way.”


… Tanaka said he disagreed with officials from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, who have denied that the strength in prices is a result of demand and supply fundamentals.

“The supply-demand situation is a basic determinant to the direction of the price,” he said. “The current level of spare capacity and the current level of stocks is showing that the market is quite fragile.”

Bloomberg