As such investments usually take five to seven years to take effective in the production capability, these OPEC countries worried that the supply and demand on the international oil market would be even reversed at that time.

They therefore will continue their reluctance in raising output unless they get future demand insurance from the oil consuming countries.

EXPERTS CALL FOR WORLD JOINT RESPONSIBILITY

Prices for crude oil, as one of the most important strategic resources and basic raw materials, would be influenced by not only supply and demand but also geopolitical developments, global economic outlook, climate policies, population and stock market, experts generally said, thus calling for a joint responsibility.

Experts also reached another consensus that the recent souring prices should be attributed to financial factors rather than the commodity itself. The devaluating dollar pushed a large amount of money into such commodity markets as oil and gold, just as Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari put it earlier that "the problem was not the oil was too expensive, but the dollar too cheap."

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2008)