Only recession in US and China will bring oil price down: Algeria

Only recession in US and China will bring oil price down: Algeria

Algiers (Platts)--5Aug2005

Only an economic recession in the US and China will bring oil prices down,
Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said Friday. 

Visiting the site of the proposed Gassi Touil LNG project at Arzew, Khelil
said: "Oil prices will tend to rise as long as the rate of growth in the US
and China remains high, and it is only as the result of a recession in these
two world economies that prices will fall." US light crude futures reached a
new high of $62.50/bbl Wednesday and traded within a few cents of that level
earlier Friday on concerns over US supplies of refined products following a
series of refining problems. 

Oil producer group OPEC, of which Algeria is a member, is pumping more than
30-mil b/d of oil but insists that markets are adequately supplied with crude
and that global refining constraints are a major factor in the price run-up.
Most OPEC members are pumping at or close to their capacity limits. Only Saudi
Arabia has any significant volume--1.5-mil b/d--of spare capacity.

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