No World Oil Shortage, Says Saudi Minister
时间：2019-01-30 作者：英语课 分类：VOA2003（上）-商业论坛
Broadcast: Jan 25 2003
Saudi Arabia's oil minister says his country and the oil cartel, OPEC, could make up for any interruption in oil supplies caused by a possible war in Iraq. He told business and political leaders meeting at 1)the World Economic Forum 1 in Davos that the oil price had been driven too high by "the drums of war."
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi says there is no shortage of oil on world markets, despite fears of war in Iraq. He said that past disruptions, such as the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf 2 War had shown that producers have been able to provide the world's markets with oil. "Although I admit there is a perception of a threat to supply, producers and consumers are working together to 2)mitigate that concern," he said. "And, there is no shortage in the market, and there should be no reason for prices to be where they are today. But that's speculation 3 more about perceptions."
Oil prices have surged, topping OPEC's $22 to $28 a barrel target range, amid fear of a war against Iraq and because a seven-week-old general strike has cut exports from OPEC member Venezuela.
Saudi Oil Minister Naimi said fears of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq had driven prices - to an excessive level - now more than $33 a barrel.
OPEC's president, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin 4 Hamad al-Attiyah, agreed, saying there is no shortage of oil, but that some may be trying to take advantage of war 3)jitters. "Security of supply will be questioned continuously, sometimes in reality, sometimes for business, sometimes for speculations 5 and futures 6 markets," he said. "We will see many people making a lot of profits in the name of security of supply."
Qatari Minister Attiyeh said OPEC may even face an oil surplus when its members meet in March. OPEC decided 7 earlier this month to raise output by 1.5 million barrels a day starting February 1.
Dale Gavlak VOA NEWS, Davos.
1) the World Economic Forum 世界经济论坛
2) mitigate[5miti^eit]v. 减轻
3) jitters 神经过敏，过度紧张，恐慌
- They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
- The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。
- The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
- There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
- Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
- There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。
- He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
- He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。
- Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》
- He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
- Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。