OPEC president Ali Rodriguez blamed high oil prices on steep taxes in consuming countries and on market speculation, and said on Monday that OPEC had done all it could to try to bring prices down.
In an address to a meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Venezuelan minister said the surge of prices above 30 dollars a barrel over the past three months was nothing to do with the level of OPEC supply.
"OPEC has more than fulfilled its role as a reliable oil supplier and ... the true reasons for currently high prices lie behind a series of other factors not directly linked to crude oil supply," Rodriguez said.
He said that taxes on oil products in consuming nations had increased more than fourfold in the past 20 years.
"Some consumer countries increased taxes even as crude prices fell," Rodriguez complained. "The distortion that taxes produces is so huge that they generate higher revenues for the governments of consuming countries as compared to the full export income of oil producers."
Rodriguez also blamed market speculation, particularly on futures exchanges, where oil has become a paper commodity traded in huge volume, for boosting the real value of crude.
"This introduces distortions which at times have been measured at between four and eight dollars per barrel," said Rodriguez, who is due to take over as OPEC secretary general in January -- VIENNA (AFP)
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