Oil Giants Call For Market Transparency
As the high level oil meeting in Saudi Arabia winds down there are signs of a break through in the future transparency of the oil markets with calls for supply and demand figures to be made more available. The majority of those at the conference expressed great concern at the speculators in the market, with many blaming them for the recent rise in the price of a barrel of oil.
It will be interesting to see how the call for greater transparency filters through the markets because it is in the interests of the likes of Saudi Arabia and other oil producing nations to keep the price as high as possible to increase their own returns. If the supply and demand figures were issued to the markets tomorrow there is speculation that we would see a substantial fall in the price of oil with many speculators rumoured to be looking to take profits at the first sign of weakness.
Those who expect a short term fix to the problem of high oil prices may well be disappointed as there have been a number of failed attempts to restructure the market in the past. The question is, why would an oil producing country be looking to reduce the price of their prized asset?
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