KUWAIT CITY, March 15 (UPI) -- The oil market is volatile but "generally balanced" despite international concerns, the Saudi oil minister said from Kuwait.
Delegates gathered this week in Kuwait for a major international energy conference. Most oil ministers said oil prices were too high.
Crude oil prices are near 9-month highs in part because of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali al-Naimi blamed "sensationalist reporting" for at least some of the turmoil in world energy markets.
"But, ultimately, volatility is caused by speculation in the marketplace, based on conjecture over tighter supply-demand balances in the future and increased interest in energy commodities as an asset class for financial investors," he was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying. "It is this emphasis on 'paper barrels', rather than actual cargoes, which creates problems."
Nevertheless, he said, the oil market was generally balanced.
"Volatility is bad for the consumer, bad for producers and bad for the sort of long-term planning required in the energy business," he said.
