Oil market well supplied, stocks high - OPEC chief

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

ISTANBUL, June 26 (Reuters) Crude oil prices are high, not because of fundamental factors but for other reasons, and inventory levels are also high, OPEC President Mohammed al-Hamli said on Tuesday.

''We still believe the market remains well supplied,'' Hamli told reporters before a conference in Istanbul. ''Stock levels are high''.

''Prices are high not because of fundamentals but because of other factors,'' he added.

Hamli has previously identified these factors as international political tensions and refinery bottlenecks in the United States.

He said the oil producers' group, which is the source of more than a third of the world's oil, did not plan to call a meeting before its next scheduled gathering in September.

Hamli, who is also oil minister of the United Arab Emirates, said UAE oil output was currently running at between 2.58 million and 2.6 million barrels a day.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents the interests of 26 industrialised oil consuming countries, has been urging OPEC to pump more but the exporter group has argued that there is no need for more crude.

London Brent crude, now seen as the best benchmark for global oil prices, hit a 10-month high above this month against a backdrop of militant attacks on oil installations in Nigeria and tensions over the nuclear programme of fellow OPEC member Iran.

Brent was down 26 cents at .10 a barrel by 0738 GMT on Tuesday, after gaining 18 cents on Monday. U.S. light, sweet crude dipped 21 cents to .97 a barrel.

REUTERS PV DB1345

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