Gulf oil ministers on Tuesday played down the slide in oil prices below $70 a barrel and said OPEC had no plans to call an emergency meeting to discuss supply policy. US crude tumbled below $68 on Tuesday and has fallen by nearly $20 in three weeks on growing fears that Europe's debt crisis would derail the global economic recovery. The price is below the $70 to $80 range that top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC have said is fair for both producers and consumers. “Not yet, so what?” Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporters at the country's parliament when asked if he was worried about the price drop. United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Mohammed Al-Hamli also downplayed the recent fall. “We have had lower prices many many times before...the price reflects market conditions,” Hamli told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in Qatar's capital city. The top energy official of Libya on Monday was less sanguine than his Gulf colleagues. He said the group was very concerned about the fall in oil prices and was watching the market closely, although it was too early to say if the group needed to take action. Sheikh Ahmad himself said earlier in May that $65 would ring alarm bells for OPEC. Algeria's oil minister has also said that a price in the $60s would be uncomfortable for OPEC members. Both Sheikh Ahmad and Hamli said on Tuesday OPEC had no plans to meet before its next scheduled gathering in October. An oil price below $70 would be too low to encourage the investment needed in boosting future energy capacity, Hamli said.
