Oil Prices to Keep Rising This Year on OPEC Supply Restrictions, CGES Says

(Bloomberg) -- Oil prices are likely to keep rising
for the rest of the year because of supply restrictions set by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Centre for
Global Energy Studies said.

The price of crude won't decline as it did last year, when it
fell 27 percent from a record high in July through November, CGES
said in a monthly report today. OPEC, which last year agreed to
curtail output to keep prices around $60 a barrel, ought to raise
production, the report said.


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OPEC concerned oil price may hurt global economy

(Reuters) - OPEC is concerned about the potential impact of the near-record price of oil on the world's economy but has seen little sign that growth has been hit by higher energy costs, the group's president said on Sunday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stands ready to pump more oil if needed, but it is not clear whether the group will need to boost output before the end of the year, said OPEC President and United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Mohammed al-Hamli.


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OPEC research head: fair oil price $60-$65 - report

(Reuters) - A fair price for both oil producers and consumers for a barrel of oil would be around $60 to $65 a barrel, a Kuwaiti state oil newsletter quoted the head of OPEC's research division as saying.

"A price of $60 to $65 is appropriate for consumers and producers, because it boosts means of investment in the oil industry in light of growing demand for oil in the coming years," state firm Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's (KOC) monthly newsletter quoted Hasan Qabazard as saying.


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OPEC Won't Increase Oil Output Because Market Is Well-Supplied, Badri Says

(Bloomberg) -- OPEC, which supplies more than 40
percent of the world's crude oil, sees no need to increase
production at present because the market is well-supplied.

``We're monitoring the market to see if there is a need for
more oil, we're ready to increase production if there is a need,
but right now there is no need,'' Secretary General Abdalla el-
Badri said in a telephone interview from OPEC's headquarters in
Vienna. ``The market is well-supplied, inventories stand above a
five-year average.''


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Supertanker Rates May Fall on Reduced OPEC Shipments to U.S., Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- The cost of hiring supertankers on
the world's busiest shipping lanes may slump this quarter as
OPEC, supplier of 40 percent of the world's crude, works to
reduce a glut of crude in the U.S.

Daily earnings for carriers able to haul 2 million-barrel
cargoes of Middle East crude on the main supertanker route to
Asia will drop 42 percent to $47,500 a day, according to the
median estimate of seven analysts polled by Bloomberg News July
5 and 6. They were about $82,000 in the same quarter last year.


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OPEC's Oil Production Rose by 5,000 Barrels a Day in June, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Crude-oil production in June by
members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose
5,000 barrels, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Output averaged 30.02 million barrels a day, according to
the survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. The 10
members of OPEC with production quotas, all except Angola and
Iraq, increased shipments by 95,000 barrels to 26.51 million
barrels a day.


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Algeria's foreign workforce grows sharply

(Reuters) - The size of the foreign workforce in Algeria almost doubled to 32,000 in 2006 from 2005 amid a quickening of the OPEC-member country's post-war economic development, an official said in remarks published on Tuesday.

Employers in the north African country had 18,191 foreigners on their payrolls in 2005, itself a big increase from the 543 foreign workers in Algeria in 1999, labour ministry official Bachir Bouzid was quoted as saying by El Watan newspaper.


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Chavez Wants Producers to Cooperate to Keep Oil Prices Above $60 a Barrel

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told
Russian legislators he wanted oil producers to cooperate to keep
oil prices above $60 a barrel.

``Sixty dollars as a floor,'' he said earlier today to the
Duma in Moscow. ``For a ceiling, as high as it can go.'' The
remarks were shown on Venezuelan state television. He said that
Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, cooperated on
supporting the price of oil. Russia isn't a member of OPEC.


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Job-starved Algeria values growth more than FDI

(Reuters) - Job-producing economic growth is a higher priority than foreign direct investment (FDI) for OPEC-member Algeria, which has little need of financing thanks to high oil revenues, a government minister said on Saturday.

Industry and Investment Promotion Minister Abdelhamid Temmar added in a speech to a business seminar that foreign investors preparing proposals for ventures should emphasise the transfer of skills and knowledge rather than provision of financing.


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Algeria plans to develop solar power for export

(Reuters) - Algeria plans to make use of its hot southern desert to develop solar power for export and domestic consumption, the OPEC member country said on Monday.

The scheme is due to be completed by 2015 in Africa's second-largest country, where most of the 33 million peopele live in the northern coastal strip. Temperatures in the desert south are high.


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UPDATE 1-Venezuela not eyeing debt buy-back in IMF pullout

(Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez announced in April that the OPEC
nation would leave the IMF, seemingly unaware the move could
trigger a technical default on the South American country's
debt.




The cabinet source was denying reports in Venezuelan media
that the country could get round the default through a debt
buy-back.


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Oil Rises on U.S. Refinery Maintenance; OPEC Says No Plans to Boost Output

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose on concerns that
refinery maintenance in the U.S. will limit gains in gasoline
supplies and OPEC's reluctance to boost production will reduce
oil stockpiles.

Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refiner, closed two
gasoline units at processing plants in Louisiana and Houston
yesterday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
doesn't see the need to increase output amid ample crude
supplies, Abdalla El-Badri, the group's secretary general, said
in an interview in London yesterday.


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OPEC Has No Plans to Boost Crude Oil Output, Libyan, Qatari Officials Say

(Bloomberg) -- OPEC, which supplies about two-fifths of
the world's oil, won't heed calls from consumers to increase output
for the summer driving season, officials from Libya and Qatar said.

``We are convinced that the market is not short of supply,''
Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah told reporters in the
Persian Gulf nation's capital Doha today. Geopolitical risks in the
Middle East and Africa, not lack of production, are pushing oil
prices higher, he said.


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Kuwait Ends Currency Peg to U.S. Dollar, Moves to Basket of Currencies

(Bloomberg) -- The Central Bank of Kuwait abandoned
the dinar's peg to the dollar after the slumping U.S. currency
pushed up the cost of imports and added to inflation in OPEC's
fourth-largest oil producer.

The country will instead link its exchange rate to a basket
of ``major world currencies,'' Kuwait's state-owned news service
said today, citing the central bank. The dinar appreciated by 0.4
percent against the dollar after the measure.


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