OPEC: Prices unlikely to fall soon

ROME, April 21 (UPI) -- OPEC leaders meeting in Rome said prices will not fall anytime soon.

Abdullah al-Badri, the secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said oil prices could rise even higher than the present level of $117 a barrel.

He said factors other than supply and demand, particularly the weakness of the U.S. dollar, were pushing oil prices higher, the London Times reported.

Analysts expect oil to rise above $120 a barrel by the summer, and some leaders have asked OPEC to increase oil production. Chakib Khelil, the president of OPEC, said he saw no need to raise oil production to counter high oil prices, dealing a further blow to big oil-consuming countries such as Britain and the United States.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Bush have called on OPEC, which produces 40 percent of the world's oil, to increase its output, but OPEC kept its daily output quota at 29.67 million barrels at its last meeting last month.

Al-Badri said that while high prices may have an impact on demand in the United States, they would not in Asia and developing countries. Oil producers will have the upper hand during negotiations as continuing demand despite high prices means that they can control access to their resources in the face of soaring demand from India and China, as well as other developing economies.

Last month China imported almost 150 percent of what it had imported the previous month. The country is building its fuel reserves for the Olympic Games later this year.