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OPEC says oil inventories at comfortable levels
WASHINGTON - OPEC oil-producing nations said on Saturday oil prices have risen despite a well-supplied market, adding it was urgent to identify new indicators of price trends to supplant the now-unreliable gauge of oil stocks. “This price rise occurred despite the fact that the market continues to be well-supplied,” Adnan Shihab-Eldin, acting secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, told a meeting of the International Monetary Fund’s policy committee.
I believe this; it's the nervous nellies in the spot and futures markets that are driving the price up.
“The healthy situation on the supply side is further demonstrated by OECD crude oil inventories, which are at comfortable levels both in absolute terms and in days of forward cover, while US commercial crude oil stock levels have reached their highest levels in eight years,” he added, referring to the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Oil prices leapt to a new peak over $75 a barrel on Friday amid persistent worries a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program could wind up disrupting supplies.

Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich nations on Friday pointed at oil prices as a potential stumbling block for the global economy and called for increased production and investment. Shihab-Eldin said uncertainties over the future demand for oil were complicating investment decisions and “consequently increasing the risks associated with both under- and over- investment.” He said the need for “appropriate investment” extended to the entire supply-chain.

Shihab-Eldin drew a distinction between the ample supplies on the crude side and tight supplies of refined products.
For example, the really tight gasoline situation in Iran.

Posted by: Steve White 2006-04-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=149460