No World Oil Shortage, Says Saudi Minister

Broadcast: Jan 25 2003

 

Saudi Arabia's oil minister says his country and the oil cartel, OPEC, could make up for any interruption in oil supplies caused by a possible war in Iraq. He told business and political leaders meeting at ¹⁾the World Economic Forum¹ in Davos that the oil price had been driven too high by "the drums of war."

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi says there is no shortage of oil on world markets, despite fears of war in Iraq. He said that past disruptions, such as the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf² War had shown that producers have been able to provide the world's markets with oil. "Although I admit there is a perception of a threat to supply, producers and consumers are working together to ²⁾mitigate that concern," he said. "And, there is no shortage in the market, and there should be no reason for prices to be where they are today. But that's speculation³ more about perceptions."

Oil prices have surged, topping OPEC's $22 to $28 a barrel target range, amid fear of a war against Iraq and because a seven-week-old general strike has cut exports from OPEC member Venezuela.

Saudi Oil Minister Naimi said fears of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq had driven prices - to an excessive level - now more than $33 a barrel.

OPEC's president, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin⁴ Hamad al-Attiyah, agreed, saying there is no shortage of oil, but that some may be trying to take advantage of war ³⁾jitters. "Security of supply will be questioned continuously, sometimes in reality, sometimes for business, sometimes for speculations⁵ and futures⁶ markets," he said. "We will see many people making a lot of profits in the name of security of supply."

Qatari Minister Attiyeh said OPEC may even face an oil surplus when its members meet in March. OPEC decided⁷ earlier this month to raise output by 1.5 million barrels a day starting February 1.

Dale Gavlak VOA NEWS, Davos.

1)    the World Economic Forum 世界经济论坛

2)    mitigate[5miti^eit]v. 减轻

3)    jitters 神经过敏，过度紧张，恐慌

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

5 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

6 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。