OPEC weekly oil prices rise to $68, Russia says oil price at $75 per barrel reasonable

OPEC weekly oil prices rise faster

2009-06-08 17:58:02

VIENNA, June 8 (Xinhua) --

The weekly average prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose faster with the international crude oil prices to 66.94 U.S. dollars per barrel last week, which almost doubled the prices of 34.92 dollars in the last week of 2008, said the Vienna-based cartel Monday.

OPEC's Ministerial Conference on May 28 decided to maintain the production quota, after which OPEC's oil prices kept rising. The average daily prices rose to 68.08 dollars per barrel on June 5, which is 7.33 dollars higher than May 27 before the meeting.

Market analysts generally believed that seeing the continued improvement of economic data, the market became increasingly optimistic about the economic recovery. At the same time, the rise of the stock market and the weakening U.S. dollars due to outflow of the hedge funds also attributed to the surge of international oil prices.

However, the data released recently in the U.S. that the unemployment in May was lower than expectation was the major factor boosting the oil prices in the last few days.

Some analysts also pointed out that although the gradual recovery of investors' confidence supported the upward trend of the oil prices, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar also played an important role, and in the near future, the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar will continue to impose great impact on oil prices if no other incident occurs.

Russia says oil price at $75 per barrel reasonable

2009-06-05 18:04:31

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 5 (Xinhua) --

A senior Russia official said Friday that 75 U.S. dollars is a reasonable price for per-barrel oil and warned the oil output would drop on further credit crunch.

"We need at least 75 dollars per barrel," Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the country's top business forum.

Sechin forecast that oil production would unlikely fall in the next few years due to mass investment over years, but "an increasingly shrinking access to finances could lead to a decline."

The crude price plummeted from record 140 dollars a barrel last July to around 35 dollars earlier this year. It rebounded to about 70 dollars per barrel this week which triggered market expectations for further rallying.

Sechin, however, stressed that it remained unclear whether the rebound was a result of fundamental improvements of the economy or barely a speculative move.

As the largest non-OPEC oil producer, oil trade is one of the main contributors to the country's total revenue, and an engine for the country's decade-long economic boom before the financial crisis.

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