Record oil divorced from fundamentals – OPEC delegate

DUBAI (Reuters) – The weak dollar and the flow of investment money into commodities have pushed oil prices to a fresh record so more pumping from OPEC would have done little to stop the surge, a senior OPEC delegate said on Sunday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) left its output steady at a meeting earlier this month despite calls from consuming countries for more oil to halt the record rally. The price hit a fresh peak of $111 a barrel on Thursday.


“What can you do?” the delegate told Reuters. “Prices are completely ignoring the fundamentals of supply and demand. Even if we had increased (at the meeting), I don’t think it would have changed anything. It is financial speculators, the weak dollar and funds driving the price.”

OPEC oil ministers have long insisted factors beyond their control are fuelling oil’s rally.

Reuters