Qatar says fair oil prices should stay between 70-80 dollars per barrel

Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah said Monday the fair prices for crude should stay between 70 to 80 U.S. dollars per barrel to satisfy both producers and consumers.

Al-Attiyah told an energy forum the above mentioned prices are conducive for oil exporters to attract the investment in expanding production capacity to meet growing oil demand.

Demand for oil and gas will increase remarkably in the years ahead and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will take the lion's share of that demand, he estimated.

Crude prices have registered fluctuations in the past weeks as concerns over the Greek debt turmoil continued to weigh on investors.

Oil prices in the international market continued to slip Monday, and dipped below 70 dollars a barrel at one point in the morning trading.

Al-Attiyah said that OPEC members should honor their respective production quotas to help create balance in the market.

Al-Attiyah, whose country holds the world's third largest gas reserves, also called for a fair treatment for the gas prices at the global level.

Qatar is the world's top liquified natural gas (LNG) producer and currently produces 55 million tonnes of LNG per year and has the plan to lift that capacity to 77 million tonnes by the end of this year.

Source:Xinhua