Global oil prices are still high despite declines in the past few days, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said Tuesday. However, his Kuwaiti counterpart Hani Hussein said in comments published Tuesday that $100 a barrel is a “fair” price for oil justified by market forces, but that geopolitical events were pushing the price higher. Naimi, speaking to reporters on a visit to Tokyo, was asked if he thinks oil prices are high. He replied, “They are high.” “We always satisfy our customers' requests. Whenever there is a request, we'll satisfy it,” he said, adding: “Oil prices are still too high,” without specifying where they should be. Kuwait oil minister Hussein told Al-Rai newspaper that the majority of experts are “unanimous that supply and demand fundamentals indicate that $100 a barrel is a fair price (for oil) justified by the market,” “But geopolitical events could impact the price and push it higher,” he said. Oil fell to near $97 a barrel Tuesday in Asia, extending nearly a week of losses as signs of sluggish economic growth in the US and Europe foreshadowed tepid demand for crude. Naimi said that Saudi Arabia was pumping at around 10 million barrels per day (bpd), and storing 80 million barrels to meet any sudden disruption in supplies. Worries of a supply disruption from the Middle East due to escalating tensions between the West and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear program pushed Brent prices 20 percent higher since the start of the year to a record of over $128 in March. Asked if OPEC needs to raise output quotas in a policy meeting on June 14, he said: “You have to wait for the meeting. We have to discuss that.” At 10 million bpd, Saudi Arabia's output is the same as last month, which was the most since November when it produced more than it had done for decades. The Kingdom stood ready to tap into its spare capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day if more crude was needed, he added. “In addition to our spare capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day, we have on the ground, in tanks and in pipelines about 80 million barrels of inventory, these are working inventory,” Naimi said. Saudi Arabia had storage capacity of about 80 million barrels, which is full, and is ready to meet any sudden need for an increase in supply, he added. Crude has dropped from $106 last week as indicators from major developed economies show they continue to struggle.
