Commodity speculators are exploiting geopolitical tensions to put a "fear factor premium" on oil prices, says Qatar's Energy and Oil Minister Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiya in an interview with TIME. The blame for high prices — a record $93.53 abarrel on Monday — should not fall on petroleum producers, he says. "How do you blame us" asked Attiya, who also serves as deputy prime minister of Qatar, a small country of nearly one million people whose per capita income of $66,000 is the world's fifth-highest. "I am an oil producer and cannot tell you the oil price. I have to check with Reuters or Platts to tell you my oil price. I cannot fix my oil price. The international market will tell me."
Attiya says that rising prices are the end result of crises in places like Iraq, Iran, Venezuelaand Nigeria, which "create more fears, and speculators are very smart. They jump into the market and take this factor and create it as fear. They try to frighten the world. 'Oh, maybe the oil will be disappear. Oh, maybe there will be a war.' But with all the fears of the world, still the supply is very efficient."
Attiya told TIME that prices would rise further if the Bush Administration ever carries out a military strike on Iran, his Persian Gulfneighbor. "I hope and am confident that we will not see any war between America and Iran, and that all these negotiations will settle things amicably," Attiya said. But in the event of further conflict in the region, such as a threatened U.S.attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Attiya said, "I think there will be a big jump [in oil prices]." War would cause an actual drop in global oil supplies which, he explained, "will create a panic, a shortage in the market."
But that is only in the event of a real war and a cut-off of Iran's and the region's spigots. Right now, says Attiya, there is no actual shortage of fuel. "Why is the price of oil very high I can confirm to you that there is no relation [to] demand and supply. We don't believe there is any shortage of supply in the whole world. I never saw a long queue in any gas station in the world. If you take the inventories, they are the highest in five years.
雙語新聞：油價上漲 歐佩克無過
卡塔爾能源石油部長阿卜杜拉·本·哈馬德·埃爾-阿提亞在接受《時代》雜志采訪時說，商品投機(jī)商們正在利用地緣政治的緊張關(guān)系制造石油價格的“恐慌性加價”。他說，對于周一每桶石油93.53美元的歷史高價的指責(zé)不應(yīng)落在石油生產(chǎn)國的頭上。阿提亞還是人口約100萬、人均收入66000美元、列世界第5位的小國卡塔爾的副首相。他問道：“你如何能指責(zé)我們呢？我是一個石油生產(chǎn)商，但是我不能告訴你石油價格。我必須參考路透社或者普氏能源資訊的價格才能告訴你我的價格。我不能制定我的石油價格。國際市場會告訴我。”
阿提亞說，價格的上漲是類似于伊拉克、伊朗、委內(nèi)瑞拉和尼日利亞等地的危機(jī)帶來的結(jié)果?！斑@些危機(jī)造成了恐慌。而投機(jī)商們很聰明，他們殺入市場，利用這種因素制造恐慌。他們竭力使世界感到害怕。‘噢，石油可能會消失。噢，可能會發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭。’但是即使世界上有這樣的恐慌，石油的供應(yīng)還是充足的?！?BR> 阿提亞告訴《時代》雜志，如果布什*一旦對他的波斯灣鄰國伊朗進(jìn)行軍事打擊，石油價格還會進(jìn)一步上漲。阿提亞說：“我希望并且相信美國和伊朗之間不會有任何戰(zhàn)爭。所有的事都將通過談判友好地解決?！钡?，如果這一地區(qū)發(fā)生進(jìn)一步?jīng)_突，比如像美國所威脅的那樣對伊朗的核設(shè)施進(jìn)行打擊的話，阿提亞說：“我認(rèn)為石油價格會大幅上升?！睉?zhàn)爭會使全球的實(shí)際石油供給下降，對此他解釋說，“將在市場上產(chǎn)生恐懼和供應(yīng)短缺”。
但這只是在發(fā)生真實(shí)的戰(zhàn)爭、伊朗和這個地區(qū)的輸油管被切斷的情況下才會發(fā)生。現(xiàn)在，阿提亞說不存在實(shí)際的燃料供應(yīng)短缺?！盀槭裁词蛢r格會那么高呢？我可以肯定地告訴你，這和供求沒有關(guān)系。我們不相信整個世界中有任何的供應(yīng)短缺。在這個世界上，我從來沒有看到加油站有排長隊(duì)的現(xiàn)象。如果你查看一下庫存，庫存量是5年以來的。”