OPEC weekly oil prices drop

The weekly average oil prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped 2.24 U.S. dollars to 136.07 dollars per barrel (dpb) last week, said the Vienna-based cartel Monday.
After the daily prices touched the historic high of 140.73 dpb on July 3 they dropped on the following four trading days to 133.16 dpb, then jumped back to 133.68 dpb last Thursday and surged 6.17 dollars higher last Friday to 139.85 dpb.
Experts say the geopolitical crisis in Iran was the main reason for the large-scale surge of the prices last Friday. Iran began testing missiles since last Wednesday, which escalated the geopolitical tensions and deepened global concerns on the future stable oil supply of OPEC.
The U.S. and some western countries criticized Iran's nuclear program, and hinted at possible military attacks on Iran. In response, Iran reiterated that its nuclear program is for peaceful use and threatened to block Hormuz Strait to cut down oil shipments if its nuclear facilities were attacked by the U.S. or Israel.
Iran's OPEC representative Mohammed Ali Khatibi warned recently that a military attack on Iran would affect the oil exports of both Iran and other producers including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which would also deeply affect the global oil trade.
World oil demand this year is forecast to grow to an average of87 million barrels per day, OPEC said on April 15. Once the Hormuz Strait is blocked, the global oil supply would be cut by nearly 20million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, OPEC released its World Oil Outlook (WOO) 2008 on July 11, saying the oil supply was more than enough on the current market and lowered its global oil demand forecast for the year 2030 to 113.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), which was 4.3 mb/d lower than the WOO 2007 estimate.
It suggested that OPEC would not increase oil output now, which could lead to growing nervousness in the oil market. The new development of the market show that the upward trend of prices has not changed, according to analysts.