Qatar: Rules out oil price volatility

Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed Bin Saleh Al Sadah has ruled out any dramatic fluctuation in oil prices in the short term, expressing the hope that the prices will settle at a fair level in the interest of both producers and consumers. He said on the sidelines of a ceremony to honor Qatar Petroleum employees that there is no shortage of crude oil supply and the market is balanced. He noted that OPEC was closely watching the market and was prepared to offset and shortage in demand. Qatar Petroleum has so far covered strides, yet it has a lot more to achieve in the oil and gas industry, in petrochemicals and other complementary industries, he said. QP has ambitious plans on the international level,he said, referring to projects in the five continents. Al Sadah said that demand for natural gas was the fastest growing in the energy mix in view of the expansion of its utilization worldwide. Plans are being studied for Qatari gas tankers to be fuelled by gas instead of fuel oil, he said.