OPEC: OIL PRICES SHOULD DECLINE BY SUMMER

REUTERS:

High oil prices in recent months are due more to financial market developments than fundamental growth in demand, Mohammad Alipour-Jeddi, OPEC's head of petroleum market analysis, told the International Monetary Fund's steering committee. The higher prices have coincided with a falling dollar and rising speculation in paper oil contracts, he said.

"While financial market dynamics have been a contributing factor to record high prices, oil market fundamentals point to a market which is currently well supplied and the balance is expected to soften further due to lower seasonal demand in the coming months," Alipour-Jeddi said in a statement to the committee.

• I PREDICT $80/BARREL BY SUMMER

• WE COULD REDUCE THEM FURTHER BY LICENSING SOME NUKE PLANTS AND SOME COAL PLANTS

• AND ALLOWING DRILLING IN ANWR AND OFF THE COASTS OF CA AND FL.