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Oil prices high due to supply anxieties: BP chief
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 06 15 06Crude oil prices remain high owing to worries about the reliability of supplies, BP chief executive John Browne said on Wednesday.
"Prices are high, because spare capacity is low, and because too many of the key suppliers seem at risk," Browne said as he unveiled BP's 2006 Statistical Review of World Energy.
"Despite conflict in the Middle East, and the impact of extreme weather conditions in the US and elsewhere, there has been no physical shortage," Browne said, adding that the price of crude has "been driven by anxiety about the reliability of supply".
In its review, BP said that global energy demand slowed in 2005 as prices, particularly of oil and gas, surged and world economic growth eased.
Meanwhile it noted that coal was the world's fastest growing fuel owing to soaring demand in China, which consumes nearly 40 percent of global supply.
Overall world energy demand grew by 2.7 percent in 2005 after hitting a 20-year high of 4.4 percent during 2004.
Oil demand increased 1.3 percent, below the 10-year average and a marked slowdown from the 3.6 percent rise in 2004.
The price of Brent crude rose 42 percent to 55 dollars per barrel, making oil more expensive than at any time since 1983.
Global economic growth also slowed to 3.6 percent in 2005 from 4.0 percent the year before, BP noted.
Demand for coal rose 5.0 percent in 2005, with China accounting for 77 percent of that growth. China is the world's largest producer and user of coal, according to the BP survey.
AFP 14 1657 GMT 06 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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