OPEC, CEO comment on high oil prices

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil LCOc1 jumped above the $100 a barrel mark on Jan. 31 for the first time since 2008, adding to pressure on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to pump more oil.

Even U.S. crude CLc1, which is trading more than $15 below Brent, is slightly above the $70-$80 price range, which top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has said is the ideal for producers in need of returns on their investment and not so high as to damage the fragile economies of consumer countries.

OPEC has resisted calls to change formally its output policy and has said the market has plenty of oil.

The oil price rally took hold late last year after U.S. quantitative easing and a weakened dollar stimulated buying across financial markets.

It has also been driven by expectations of increased fuel demand as the world's economy recovers from recession and most recently by concern political upheaval in Egypt could spread across the oil-producing Arab world.

The following are comments from OPEC officials, CEOs and representatives of consumer countries on oil's latest rally.

Feb 14 - United Arab Emirates [ID:nLDE71D03A]

UAE Oil Minister Mohammed al-Hamli said events in Egypt had driven oil prices higher, not fundamentals of supply and demand.

He also saw no need for an emergency OPEC meeting.

"Oil prices react to events and they have reacted to events in Egypt," Hamli told reporters. "The market is well-supplied."

"The price can't be explained by current fundamentals. The stocks are high," he added.

Feb 6 - Iran

Iran's oil minister Massoud Mirkazemi said there would be no need for an emergency OPEC meeting even if the oil price hit $120. [ID:nMOS637004]

"Considering the dollar depreciation, $100 oil is not a significant price for this strategic product," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency. "Even with a $120 oil price there is no need for holding an emergency meeting."

Feb 4 - Venezuelan oil minister [ID:nN04224665]

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez also said there was enough oil in the market and saw no immediate need for an emergency meeting.

"In the current conditions there is absolutely no justification for an emergency meeting. The economy has not been affected by oil," he said. "We believe oil is reaching its fair level. We maintain that price is $100 per barrel."

Feb 2 - Shell CEO

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote) Chief Executive Peter Voser said OPEC's idle production capacity of 5 million barrels per day (bpd) -- more than the 2 million bpd it held in 2008 when oil spiked to a record above $147 a barrel -- could help to prevent a surge in prices this year.

"In the absence of geopolitical factors, this may well cushion the markets from a spike in 2011," Voser said at a news conference to discuss Shell's results.

Feb 2 - BP's chief economist [ID:nLDE71122J]

BP (BP.L: Quote) Chief Economist Christof Ruehl said OPEC was likely to increase output by "more rather than less" in response to tension in the Middle East.

"The longer the uncertainty around the Middle East and political tensions continues ... that may actually prompt them to do more rather than less in order to calm markets down," Ruehl told Reuters Insider Television.

Feb 1 - Libya [ID:nLDE7101SH]

Libya's most senior oil official Shokri Ghanem said he was pleased to see prices at $100 and saw no need for an extraordinary OPEC meeting to reassess policy.

"I don't think there is a need for a meeting, whether it is a side meeting or an official meeting or extraordinary meeting at this point in time," Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp, told Reuters.

"I am pleased also because it is a good compensation for the loss of the dollar value and the increase in the price of the other commodities, especially the food ones."

Feb 1 - International Energy Agency [ID:nLDE7100OA]

Nobuo Tanaka, head of the International Energy Agency, said the global market was not facing an emergency, but in the event of supply disruption as a result of crisis in the Middle East, OPEC and the IEA should act.

"If a disruption happens, we should act," he told Reuters.

The IEA has a mandate to ask its members to release oil stocks in the case of severe supply disruption.

Jan 31 - Saudi Oil Minister

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told a conference in Geneva the market was well-supplied.

"We cannot put oil in markets that don't need it," he said.

Jan 31 - OPEC's Secretary General [ID:nLDE70U0OS]

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said he did not yet see the need for an extraordinary meeting before OPEC's next planned conference in June.

"Before the Tunisian and the Egyptian crisis, we don't see it (an extraordinary meeting). But now, I don't know if this crisis will escalate. I hope not," Badri said.

He confirmed OPEC ministers and consumers attending an international energy conference in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 22 would discuss the oil market informally.

(Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71D0LG20110214?sp=true)