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| Oil prices of $40-50 bbl "realistic" - Qatari energy minister | ||
| 2009-04-14 | ||
Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), the minister said: "We are talking about reality; so we have to be practical. The prices of USD 40-50 pb are realistic and suitable to the world economy in 2009 under the current crisis," he said citing the slow demand on oil. According to the statistics of the International Energy Agency (IEA) there is remarkable decline in demand which justifies economists' predictions about shrinkage of the world economy. "Economists predict the world economy to be at low ebb in the period ahead, so we have to speak in realistic way," Al-Attiya said, affirmed that 2009 would be "very tough" for the world economy. He voiced hope that 2010 would see an end to the crisis and resumption of economic growth.
Addressing a two-day forum here on energy, he bemoaned the fact that the crisis might affect the oil industry worldwide in a way that would lead to cutbacks in production and in reduction of the labor force, as was the case in the mid-eighties of the last century. The oil industry in Qatar, he said, was among the fastest growing oil industries and the question of attracting a well-trained work force to run it was parmount on the minds of Qatari oil officials. Over the past eight years the number of oil workers in Qatar has increased by 73 percent and the number of energy-based companies shot up by 181 percent, he said as he underlined that it was the international oil firms which first complained about dwindling numbers of oil technicians worldwide, and that complaint came during the 10th international energy forum which was held in Qatar in 2006. This fear over the lack of availability of qualified workers in the energy field was also the focus of an energy forum held in Rome, Italy, 2008 for ministers of oil whose countries are members in the regular meetings of that forum. The current forum in Doha will seek solutions facing the oil industry worldwide, among them boosting cooperation between oil and energy companies and ministries of oil and members of academia. | ||
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #4 Pre-emptive pricing for the summer driving season. Nothing more and nothing less. By October, it will be back to $40-50 range. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-04-14 10:34 |
| #3 What is that in Obamabucks? |
| Posted by: ed 2009-04-14 09:12 |
| #2 OPEC oil barons would rather prefer the $75 to $90 range, even better for them was when oil soared to $147 a barrel, but as you say inflation will rear its ugly head again, and instead of recession it will really be a a full scale depression, then their oil export sales shall sink to record lows. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2009-04-14 06:37 |
| #1 The prices of USD 40-50 pb are realistic and suitable to the world economy .... ... at least until the hyperinflation kicks in then you can just add a zero every few months until the world economy collapses. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2009-04-14 01:18 |