|
Daukoru: World tensions need solution OPEC president calls for international community to solve geopolitical problems contributing to high oil prices Kelly Olsen Associated Press Business Writer
OPEC President Edmund Daukoru called June 5 for the international community to work to solve geopolitical tensions that help contribute to high oil prices.
“Geopolitical tensions ... let the global community fix them,” Daukoru said, emphasizing that the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no political role itself.
“OPEC is not a political organization. OPEC is committed to stabilization of markets,” he said, adding that the organization doesn’t get involved in the foreign policies of its members.
“Events such as Iran simply go to emphasize once again the need for dialogue and the need for a harmonized world view, particularly with regard to energy,” he said.
Daukoru, who is also Nigeria’s petroleum minister, made the comments at a news conference in Seoul. He was in South Korea to meet government officials and attend an energy forum with South Korean business executives.
Oil prices rose June 5 after Iran’s supreme leader said the day before that his nation could jeopardize the world’s oil supply if the West punished Tehran over its nuclear program. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose US$1.37 to US$73.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, addressed Western nations in a speech, saying: “If you make any mistake (punish or attack Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized.”
Also unrest in Nigeria Daukoru also said Nigeria takes seriously a spate of kidnappings of foreign oil workers in the country.
“We condemn any form of hostage-taking as officials and we’ll do everything possible to stop it,” he said.
A group of unidentified militants who were demanding jobs and money kidnapped the eight foreign oil workers June 2 from an offshore oil platform off Nigeria’s southeastern coast. They were released June 4.
Unrest has plagued Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta region for years, and in recent months armed militants have stepped up a campaign against the oil industry, blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping foreign workers.
Daukoru tried to calm investors, saying, “There’s absolutely nothing to fear.” He called the incidents “an expression of anxiety as to the pace of development.”
He said that the young people involved are not part of a larger political movement and are “not terrorists, they’re not separatists. They’re just asking for more attention and more amenities.”
Daukoru said his main concern about high oil prices is that they will divert investment away from fossil fuels and into alternative sources of energy.
“I really can tell you that we are concerned with high oil prices,” he said, “because at a certain psychological level alternative competing fuels would start to divert investment that should have otherwise come into the oil sector.”
Daukoru said that current high oil prices are primarily caused by bottlenecks such as a lack of refining capacity. He added that factors including inflexibility in gasoline specifications from country to country, geopolitical tensions and hedge funds also play a role.
| 