Oil market is oversupplied: Purnomo

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro maintained on Wednesday that there was more than enough oil supply in the market despite the increasing trend in the oil price.

The minister, who is also president and acting secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said that the current rise in the oil price was because of ?fundamental and non-fundamental reasons?.

The fundamental reasons include the tight demand for gasoline in the United States market, while the non-fundamental reasons are among others worries caused by the recent terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and the continued insecurity in Nigeria and Iraq.

Brent crude price hit a 13-year high on Tuesday at above US$34 per barrel and many international analysts fear that the increasing trend will continue in the coming days.

?As a matter of fact, there is now a production leakage amounting to 1.5 million barrels per day,? Purnomo said. (Godang)