Oil prices, which on Wednesday hit a record high above $130 a barrel, will probably rise even further, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said. "It will go higher," Shokri Ghanem, head of NOC and the head of Libya's Opec delegation, told Reuters. "Even if Opec can produce more, it will not affect the price."
Libya and fellow members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have blamed factors other than supply for oil's record run, such as the weak US dollar and speculative trading.
Oil hit a record high of $130.47 on Wednesday and is widely predicted to continue its climb. The price could hit $200 within the next two years driven by poor supply growth, Goldman Sachs said earlier this month. Opec policy remains unchanged but its biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, said last week it had raised output by 300,000 barrels a day to make up for shortages in other countries.
Ghanem, supporting his view that more Opec oil would not lower prices, noted that the Saudi statement on Friday did not stop prices from rising. He also questioned whether Opec was able to boost supply further.