The recent rise in oil prices was not caused by a shortage of supply, Qatar's Energy Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said on Sunday. Crude prices hit an 18-month high of $87.09 a barrel on April 6, although they have since slipped to just under $83.
"The oil price is not related at all to there being a shortage," Attiyah told reporters ahead of a meeting of gas powers in the Algerian city of Oran. "Inventory is very comfortable and even the highest in history.
Investor expectation that a global recovery would lift oil consumption has led prices to almost triple from a low near $32 in December 2008, even though there have been few signs yet of higher demand materialising. Fellow OPEC member Algeria on Saturday said perception of recovery was driving the price, rather than any shortage in supply.
Asked if there was a need for an OPEC to call a meeting before its next scheduled gathering in October, Attiyah replied "No. For what? Could you convince me there is a shortage of supply?"
At a meeting in Vienna last month, OPEC ministers agreed to leave output targets unchanged, continuing with a supply policy agreed at an OPEC meetingg in Algeria in December 2008. Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Attiyah was in Oran for a meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
The 11-members of the GECF account for about 70 percent of the world's gas reserves and are looking for ways to reverse a slump in gas prices.
Gas producers would examine a proposal by Algeria to cut spot gas sales to the market, Attiyah said. Khelil has said he planned to use the gas meeting to ask ministers to study a proposal to make co-ordinated cuts in supply to the spot market.