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Nigeria assumes $100 oil won’t last: minister

LAGOS - There is no fundamental justification for oil at $100 a barrel and OPEC member Nigeria is assuming that prices will not last at these levels, oil minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Saturday.

Ajumogobia, who is heading to Riyadh next week ahead of an OPEC heads of state summit on Nov. 17, told Reuters that no-one in the oil exporters’ group would be surprised if the price fell to $80 in the next few weeks.

“$100 oil was speculated about three, four, five months ago and we are there now. There is no indication why it has reached $100 in terms of supply and demand indices,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Oil futures in New York struck a record high of $98.62 a barrel on Wednesday.

After the heads of state meeting in Riyadh, oil ministers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet to review output policy in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 5.

“I don’t think it would shock anyone if by the time we meet in Abu Dhabi the price is down to $80 or $85.”

“Our budget benchmark (for 2008) is $53.80 so we are being reasonably conservative in terms of ’this is not a trend that is going to continue.’ That is the assumption. I don’t see that oil is going to go back to $40 but I think $100 is excessive,” he said.