OPEC chief expects oil prices to stay high

24 June 2008

Mumbai: OPEC president Dr Chakib Khelil, who is also the oil minister of Algeria, has said the oil cartel has done all it could to rein in soaring oil prices and the current oil market spike is outside its control.

Oil prices "will not come down," he said.

"OPEC has already done what it can do and prices will not come down," Khelil said ahead of a meeting with EU energy officials in Brussels.

The US also seems to agree as it sees "no magic wand" to solve the problem overnight.

''There's no magic wand. It's not going to be a problem that we solve overnight. I don't think anybody anticipated that this conference was going to have an immediate impact on price or on the stock market," White House press secretary Dana Perino said at a briefing in Jeddah.

The conference, called amidst soaring oil prices, concluded without a pledge from the oil producing countries to raise production, except for a promise from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia to pump more oil .