Kuwait foreign minister says high oil prices

Kuwait foreign minister says high oil prices

hurt Gulf producers

Dubai (Platts)--18Oct2004


Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah said in an interview
published Monday that OPEC producer Kuwait did not favor sustained high oil
prices, which he blamed on the lingering impact of Hurricane Ivan and on
speculators in paper barrels. 

"I think OPEC, led by the Gulf producers, is
trying with its utmost capacity to maintain oil price stability and has
actually raised production to its full capacity but there are too many
disturbances around the world," Sheikh Mohammed said in an interview with the
Saudi-Arabia owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. "Ivan struck the eastern coast
of the US and we have the phenomenon of speculators who trade paper crude
barrels...These speculators have pushed oil prices in a big way. Thank God
nobody is blaming the Gulf producers for this increase because in reality,
high oil prices cause fundamental harm to Arab Gulf producers," he said.

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