The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE uptrend of price of oil and the the supply thereof have been reviewed at an oil summit held in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The participants from member-countries in the OPEC noted the price hike as "hostile" and urged oil producing countries to increase investment for extraction and supply of oil to the global market. The host country, Saudi Arabia, referred to the speculations about lack of supply of oil and the increase in the price in the global market and urged oil producing countries to increase supply and contain the upsurge of price of oil.

The Saudi authorities have asserted that they were ready to meet the additional demand for oil in the global market by increasing extraction of oil and expediting supply to consumer countries. Along with that managerial move for extraction and distribution of oil to different countries for ultimate control of price, the Saudi authorities have urged the oil producing member countries of the OPEC to contribute one billion dollars to poorer countries for meeting the ultimate need for oil. The thirty-member OPEC have thus given a commitment for rationalisation of the use of oil in coming days.

Oil price has increased more than five-fold since the year 2000. The uptrend in price has been forty percent since the beginning of the current year. The top exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia, has started augmenting the extraction of oil and increasing its supply of the same to the tune of half a million barrels per day. If the same move is followed by other oil-rich countries, the supply of oil may be taken to a national level. While the price hike and supply of oil were reviewed a major producer of oil, Nigeria, reportedly shut down the process of extraction and processing of oil. The decision of closure of the process was taken after an attack on the management centre of oil fields in Nigeria. Dhaka should keep a close watch to adjust to the changing situations.