Abu Dhabi, January 18: United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli said on Monday that world oil prices are “very reasonable.”
Hamli was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a four-day alternative energy forum being held in the UAE capital.
He was subsequently asked if he preferred prices to be in excess of 100 dollars a barrel and said: “I don’t like over 100 and don’t like 30.”
“I am not comfortable with volatility in prices.”
He repeated, in English and Arabic more than once, that he considered current prices to be “very reasonable.”
Hamli considered the markets to be well supplied saying “inventories are up; around 59 days.”
He also said crude prices are linked to the performance of the US dollar.
“There is a direct link between the rate of the dollar and oil prices. When we see the dollar rate down, we find oil prices going up and vice versa,” he said.
Crude futures fell earlier on Monday amid doubts over the strength of economic recovery in the United States, analysts said.
But New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, later jumped 54 cents to 78.54 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March rose 35 cents to 77.46 dollars a barrel in London midday deals.
Meanwhile, the dollar was trading up Monday against the euro amid worries over the looming budget crisis in Greece.
The UAE minister, whose country sits on the world’s fifth largest proven reserves of crude, had told participants in the forum that the Gulf nation was aiming to diversify its sources of energy through building nuclear plants.
The UAE last month awarded a South Korean-led consortium a contract worth 20.4 billion dollars (14.2 billion euros) to build four nuclear power plants.
“Nuclear deals … are part of the UAE strategy to diversify its sources of energy,” he said.
“Important to note: the reason we went for the nuclear option is that it was the most viable, given that the UAE does not have natural gas enough to fuel its economy,” he said.
The UAE’s reserves of gas are, however, 214.4 trillion cubic feet (six trillion cubic metres), ranking it sixth in the world after Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
“We are going to have (energy from) fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables … It will bring balance and sustainability,” Hamli added.
The UAE capital was chosen last year to host the headquarters of the recently founded International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as the country vies to take the vanguard in developing alternative energy, despite having the world’s largest ecological footprint per capita.
—Agencies