OPEC Daily Prices over 111 Dollars

The daily average oil price of the Organization of petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Wednesday hit 111.14 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb), surpassing 111 dollars for the first time, said the Vienna-based cartel Thursday.

The prices jumped 1.22 dollars higher than the 109.92 dpb recorded Wednesday, setting eight records in eight consecutive trading days.

OPEC General Secretary Abdullah al Badri said at the 11th International Energy Forum (IEF) in Rome on April 21 that non-fundamental factors such as market speculation were the major causes of the rising prices of oil and other commodities.

He pointed out that the world has enough oil resources to meet the increasing demand for decades. However, uncertainty about the world's future economic growth, consuming countries' policies, technological developments and non-OPEC performance would be the main drivers for rising costs for oil producing countries.

He therefore called for measures to enhance the global energy mix and pay attention to environment and climate change issues. Four OPEC member countries pledged a total of 750 million dollars for energy and environment research in November, he said.