Qatar oil minister: Region has capacity to meet demand
Published Mar 09, 2009Qatar’s oil minister said today that $140-per-barrel oil wasn’t good for the world but that oil companies must have enough margin to develop future projects if they are to have capacity to meet future demand. "In this business, you have good days and bad days," said His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, deputy prime minister of Qatar and the country’s minister of energy and industry.
Al-Attiyah led the discussion at a forum on energy issues at the Texas A&M Engineering Building. The forum was sponsored by Bloomberg News and Texas A&M University at Qatar. He said that last year’s high oil prices were a result of speculation, not demand, and that oil-exporting countries had capacity to meet demand now and in the near term. "When you need it, we will offer it," he said. Al-Attiyah also praised Texas A&M at Qatar for its work to educate engineers and develop "the human resource" in Qatar. "Without education, there is no future," he said.