"We are doing all we can to meet demand but prices are rising because of Iran, Nigeria and Iraq," Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said Sunday in Doha, Qatar.

"Even if prices reach US$70 a barrel, what can OPEC do?"

Shipments of crude oil from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably fall 0.3 percent to 24.88 million barrels a day in the four weeks to April 8, compared with the previous four weeks, because of a decline in production from the group, the consulting company Oil Movements said in a report on March 23.

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Crude oil for May delivery fell 52 US cents, or 0.8 percent, to close at US$66.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. It was the largest drop since March 20. Crude closed Thursday at US$67.15 a barrel, the highest since January 31. Prices are 20 percent higher than a year ago.

"International economies can absorb US$60 oil," said the oil minister of Qatar. "I don't believe there's a shortage in the market as more than one million barrels a day are going into inventories," al-Attiyah said.

Energy ministers from the Group of Eight nations focused on ensuring fuel supplies, the theme of Russian president Vladimir Putin's chairmanship of the group, during their talks in Moscow on March 16.

With oil costing more than US$60 a barrel, G8 ministers also discussed development of alternative energy sources such as nuclear power, a competing energy source OPEC officials have previously criticized as potentially unsafe.

Oil prices still trading near record levels may lead to a decline in demand for hydrocarbons as consumers look toward alternative energy supplies, the chief executive of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil said Sunday.

"Prices should be between US$45 and US$55 a barrel," Yousef Omair bin Yousef said on the sidelines of a signing ceremony for a new chemicals plant in Abu Dhabi.

Prices are presently "too high" and "could harm the market further down the line through the development of alternative fuels," he said.

Crude closed at a record US$69.81 a barrel on August 30, 2005. BLOOMBERG