Speculation fuels crude variations

Speculative trading has helped widen the spread between US and European benchmark oil prices to the largest yet, the country's energy minister says.

Mohammed al Hamli, the UAE Minister of Energy, says current oil prices can not be explained by market fundamentals.

The oil market is well supplied but has been influenced by speculative trading that has helped to drive apart the prices of the US and European benchmarks, says the UAE Minister of Energy.

"There is certainly a distortion that's currently taking place," said Mohammed al Hamli, who attributed what he called a "decoupling" between the two benchmarks to high US inventories.

Mr al Hamli was speaking against the backdrop of European Brent crude oil prices that recently passed the US$100 mark, driven higher by political unrest in Egypt, which controls a key shipping channel for moving Gulf oil to western markets.

But as the price of the European benchmark has surged, West Texas Intermediate has fallen, widening the spread between the benchmarks to yesterday's record of $15.59.

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"We cannot ignore [this]. These are benchmarks, we have to look at them," Mr al Hamli said.

"There was some speculation, some traders are buying bigger cargoes … so I think the traders also had a role."

The US energy trading company Hetco last month bought a large position on the North Sea oil futures market, at one point controlling almost a third of the cargoes scheduled to be delivered this month.

"Even the current price cannot be explained by market fundamentals," Mr al Hamli said. "The stocks are high, the market is very well supplied but, again, there are other factors that are changing the price movement."

Even as the global economic recovery and rapid development in Asia boosts demand, Opec does not want the price to rise to a level that would stifle demand, he added.

"Prices in general, if they move high, naturally they do have an impact, and we do not want to see demand actually being affected by higher prices," Mr al Hamli said. "But at what price, really I don't know."

Opec member countries have enough spare production capacity to meet that demand growth, with at least 500,000 barrels per day available in the UAE, Mr al Hamli said.

Maintaining such levels is "costly" for Opec countries, said Ali al Yabhouni, the UAE Opec Governor.

At an event in the capital to mark Opec's anniversary, Mr al Yabhouni spoke about key changes in the organisation, including the election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the Americas' largest oil producer and a founding Opec member.

Mr Chavez has been instrumental in bringing more transparency to production levels in his country, said Mr al Yabhouni, who recalled difficulties in determining Venezuelan production levels before he was elected.

"It had been a very difficult situation for the Opec … However, when Chavez stepped in as the president, he sharpened his position."

Mr Chavez, a critic of capitalism in his weekly televised addresses and frequent Twitter posts, came to power in 1999 and has not shied away from forthright commentary on the oil industry.

"Maybe a lot of people think he's not popular and … the way he says things is very hard," Mr al Yabhouni said.

"But when it comes to the Opec, president Chavez is a great supporter."