Dubai (Platts)--22May2008

Qatari oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah was quoted Thursday as ruling out
the need for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting, saying that oil supply and
demand fundamentals were in balance and demand for crude was expected to fall.
Attiyah, in an interview with Saudi-owned newspaper al-Hayat in Doha,
said he was surprised by the sharp rise in oil prices, which Thursday topped
$135/b for US light sweet crude oil futures.

"Frankly, I am surprised by what is happening in the oil market since the
last International Energy Agency report confirmed that demand is set to fall
and we in OPEC act in accordance with supply and demand numbers," Attiyah
said.

Asked why OPEC had not called an emergency meeting ahead of a September 9
scheduled meeting, Attiyah replied: "When we see the IEA predicting a fall in
demand why should we hold an extraordinary meeting. That would be tantamount
to taking responsibility for high oil prices, which have nothing to do with us
because we are not a party to this equation."

Attiyah was referring to the latest IEA monthly oil report issued May 13,
in which the Paris-based agency slashed its estimate of world oil demand
citing signs of weakness in the most developed countries. It cut its estimate
of world oil demand in 2008 by 390,000 b/d to 86.84 million b/d, up from 85.81
million b/d in 2007, and warned that it could cut estimates further.

At the same time, the IEA said that additional crude supply from OPEC
could help bring down record-high crude prices, even though the cartel is
already pumping more than the agency's own estimate of demand for OPEC oil.

Attiyah, asked if OPEC had lost control of oil prices, said: "When there
is a problem on the supply side, we can react and fix the imbalance, but when
markets are in balance there is not much that we can do. Furthermore, there
appears to be a new phenomenon, which is a linkage between the rise in oil
prices and the weakening of the US dollar so each time the dollar falls, we
see a rise in the price of oil in line with high commodities prices."

Pressed on whether oil prices could go as high as $200/b or $300/b,
Attiyah said it was difficult to predict where prices would go if the price
movement was not related to supply and demand fundamentals.