Speculative premium on oil at $ 60 a barrel: India

An estimated 60 dollars per barrels is the "speculative premium" in the current oil prices, Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said.

"Speculative trading amounts to a few trillion dollars currently." India blames speculators working on the New York Mercantile Exchange for crude oil prices touching an all time high of $140 per barrel and pushed for their exit from the oil markets at the meeting of world's leading oil producers and consumers in Jeddah today.

"On ariving here yesterday evening, we met Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi who too believes that the world has enough oil and it was speculation and paper trading that is to be blamed for the escalation in prices," Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan told PTI from Jeddah.

An estimated 60 dollars per barrel is the "speculative premium" in the current oil prices, he said. "Speculative trading amounts to few trillion dollars currently."

Trading on exchanges like the New York Mercantile Exchange or Nymex, and more recently on Intercontinental Exchange, London is contributing "enormously" to high prices and the prices will fall drastically if crude was eliminated from the commodities traded on these exchanges, he said.

Many in the oil cartel Opec share India's belief that investors are artifically driving up oil prices. Hedge funds, banks and pension funds have poured capital into oil trading in recet years, betting that demand will increase. Analysts say these bets have become self-fulfilling prophecies, helping to push prices higher.