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ALGIERS - OPEC president Chakib Khelil warned on Sunday that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar, in an interview in the Algeria-News.
'The price of oil will rise again in the coming weeks. We have to follow the evolution of the dollar, because a one per cent fall in the dollar means four dollars more on the price of oil,' Mr Khelil, who is Algeria's minister of energy and mines, told the independent daily.
'As producer countries we think that the current supply is sufficient, that this balance in supply is in everybody's interests and that it shouldn't be disturbed, because the current rise in oil prices is in nobody's interest,' the head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) stressed.
He also commented on the geo-political effects on the price of oil, notably the crisis between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme and rejected the theory that oil cartel members were against boosting production to put a downward pressure on prices.
'I believe that 60 per cent of the rise is due to the fall in the exchange rate of the dollar and to geo-political problems, and 40 per cent to the intrusion of bioethanol on the market,' he said.
'I can affirm that all the (Opec) countries are in favour of new explorations (of oil reserves), but the fact is that the embargo imposed by Libya has prevented any increase of investment in that country, just as the current embargo on Iran is stopping anyone investing there,' Mr Khelil said.
'The United States is threatening severe economic sanctions against any group which dares invest in Iran. Similarly, the war in Iraq is why investment there is weak. No Opec country can invest in embargoed countries.' -- AFP
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