DUBAI: The price of oil may rise up to $80 as early as 2010, an oil industry leader said yesterday.
“If we don’t see any major discovery of oil sources, we will see long-term challenges in the supply of oil. By 2010 the price of oil will come back to the 2005 levels of $70 to $80 per barrel and in the long term will further rise to between $80 and $90,” said Saddad Al-Husseini, former executive vice president for exploration and production, ARAMCO.
He was speaking at the second session of the DIFC Forum entitled “At What Price? Energy Geopolitics in an Era of Structural Change.”
Other speakers included Dr. Herman Franssen, senior associate, CSIS Energy and National Security Program, and president, International Energy Associates; Raja Sidawi, chairman, Energy Intelligence; and Nader Sultan, chairman, Ikraus Petroleum Holdings and former CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
Sultan said that the rise of China is creating a massive increase in the demand for oil, as is the growing energy needs of emerging markets like India. Franssen said that US policies in the region will, by creating more stability, have an impact on a steady supply of oil. This will mean a change in the policy toward Iran, Iraq and Palestine, he added.
Sidawi pointed out that supply side politics has been the cause of disruption of supply. “Politics has been the defining factor. It started when the US shifted from being a producer of oil to an importer.”
