UAE oil minister rules out crude shortage

UAE Energy Minister Mohamed bin Dhaen al-Hamli ruled out any supply side constraint of crude oil adding that the oil market is well supplied. The momentary rise in international crude rates is primarily due to Egypt's revolution that made President Hosni Mubarak to relinquish his post.

Mounting fears of similar situation in some North African state may affect crude prices, according to some independent observers. The UAE energy minister added, "Oil prices are reacting to events wherever they are. Events in Egypt have also contributed to the movement in prices. The market is well supplied.

The current price cannot be explained by the market fundamentals." Earlier, oil prices touched $101 a barrel in Asian trading due to political instability in the Middle East. Meanwhile, OPEC said that there is no need of panic and it will release more oil if needed.

The oil body has no plan to call emergency meeting in the view of rising oil prices. OPEC, according to a top official of body, would not reassess oil output policy till June this year. The UAE was producing around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), in line with its OPEC output target and other oil producing countries are also supplying oil in line with their promise.

(Source: http://topnews.ae/content/26162-uae-oil-minister-rules-out-crude-shortage)