May 3, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1427

WASHINGTON, May 2: Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said on Tuesday that record-high crude prices are undermining global energy security and are not in the interests of oil producers.

Speaking here at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, he said the explosive rally in prices had created “an environment of fear and uncertainty in oil markets and among consumers”.

“This is not a situation in which anyone can take comfort,” he said at a forum on energy security also addressed by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.

Mr Nuaimi said he “could not agree more” with Bodman’s contention that high oil prices are highly disruptive. “Prices at these levels are not in the interest of Saudi Arabia or the US,” the Saudi minister said.

He added: “Energy security cannot be maintained when prices are at extremes — too low or too high.”

Mr Nuaimi refused to speculate on how much higher oil prices could go.

But he said that achieving security of energy supplies was a challenge that both oil-producing and consuming nations must face together, by dropping their adversarial sparring of the past.

“The foundation for sustainable energy security is a price low enough to avoid harming consumers, yet high enough to ensure adequate return on investment for producers,” he said at the CSIS forum.—AFP