From Der Spiegel

In an exlusive SPIEGEL interview, OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri discusses the dangers of a further dramatic rise in the oil price, the failures of multinational oil companies and considerations within the cartel of oil-exporting nations to trade in euros rather than dollars.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Secretary-General, the price of a barrel of crude oil hit the $100 mark for the first time in early January. While consumers are burdened with high prices, the producers are busy filling their pockets. Did you celebrate at OPEC on that day?

El-Badri: No, why should we? We are interested in reasonable prices. We want stability. Besides, the average price per barrel was $69 last year. Only a very small amount of oil was traded at above $100, and only for a very short time. It is a gamble. It was a single dealer who miscalculated and lost money as a result.

SPIEGEL: Now you are downplaying a dramatic development that has the whole world deeply concerned. The price of oil has quadrupled in four years, and last year it rose by an alarming 57 percent. Experts at the German Institute for Economic Research believe that a price increase to $200 within 10 years is likely. Do you disagree?

El-Badri : The oil price should be based primarily on supply and demand. If that’s the case, an increase to $200 is highly unlikely. But when other factors play a key role, like speculators or geopolitical factors …

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