Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Oil prices likely to rise further: Libya

7 May, 2008, 1556 hrs IST, REUTERS

LONDON: Oil prices, which this week hit a record high near $123 a barrel, will probably rise even further, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday.

"I think it will go higher," Shokri Ghanem, head of NOC, told reporters in a telephone interview. "It is the same old story -- speculation and geopolitics." Ghanem also said it will take up to two months, longer than previously expected, to resume output at the 45,000 barrel-per-day al-Jurf oilfield offshore Libya.

"It will take more than a month, if not two months," he said. "We are working hard, but it is an offshore platform and we have to be sure of the safety."

Ghanem said on April 24 the field was shut down because of a damaged well and that it would take a few weeks to resume production.

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