- MANAMA: Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, deputy prime minister and minister of energy and industry on Saturday warned that high oil prices can have adverse effects on the economic and social development of the oil importing countries.
- Similarly, he added, the low oil process can also undermine developments in exporting countries.
He said OPEC responds quickly to any shortage of supply by increasing production and attempts to restore stability to the oil market and to prices. In the meantime, he added, cutting production can be applied to strengthen market fundamentals.
Highlighting the role of new technologies in energy sector, Al-Attiyah said the world's future energy requirements will be met by fossil fuels, thanks to the huge resource base of fossil fuels which are enough to meet global requirements for decades to come.
He said that the deployment of the latest technologies have steadily increased proven oil reserves over the past 30 years, through better dimensional seismic technology as the world now have more accurate estimates of reserves.
Al-Attiyah blamed the uncertainty over euro zone debt problems for the volatility in the oil market and the slide in crude prices.
"The uncertainty, especially in Europe, the bailout (for Greece), and the euro (dropping value)... all those put a lot of pressure on the economy and oil prices," he told reporters on the sidelines of an economic forum in
Bahrain.
- With input from agencies