A hike in the price of petrol is worrying Europe

For Pierre Veya, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has fallen into the "expensive petrol trap". "This ongoing rise in prices is a concern for consumers and an even bigger one for producers, especially members of the OPEC coalition. For, at over 70 dollars a barrel, while the clash is flowing, energy saving measures are becoming a very lucrative affair with high prices encouraging the use of alternative combustibles such as bio fuels or the extraction of unconventional forms of petrol. The OPEC is due to gather mid November and no doubt will decide to open up production floodgates to take some pressure off the situation and disarm speculators. But there is no guarantee that this classic strategy will work. ... If the OPEC fails, the refinery of oil sands in Alberta, (Canada) and Venezuela's heavy oil will become an alarming threat for the coalition's producers."

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