Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.17
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
There is obviously a lot of panic regarding falling oil prices in the world market, Sajid Rizvi, the editor and publisher of the UK-based "Middle East in Europe" magazine and website said.
Nevertheless, oil is a commodity and its prices can go up and down, Rizvi told Trend during "This Week in Focus" program episode.
It should be taken into account that the fall in oil prices is happening at the time of great political volatility, according to the Rizvi.
He said there are several factors affecting the decrease in oil prices.
"One of the reasons is the fact that the US oil production has gone up," he said. "The way the country obtains its oil now has made major changes of the political front."
Before, every time when something happened in Saudi Arabia or in any Persian Gulf country, the oil prices were affected by these developments, according to Rizvi.
Now, he said, there are so many diverse sources of crude oil, recession is observed in the world, and all this is backed by a factor of world oil demand.
He said all these factors together affect the current situation, adding that it should be a lesson to oil exporters and oil producers which should rationally use oil revenues.
Regarding OPEC's current role in setting the oil prices, Rizvi noted that the cartel is just one of few players in the market. He said OPEC is not exactly united, and the member states have never actually been working in coordination with one another.
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Aygun Badalova is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AygunBadalova
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