VIENNA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The weekly average prices of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) slightly rebounded to 111.08 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb) last week, 1.35 dollars higher than the previous week, said the Vienna-based cartel Monday.
The weekly prices dropped in a row for 6 consecutively trading weeks since it topped historic high of 138.31 dpb on the first week of July. It once touched the three-month-low of 109.73 dollars the week before last week.
The daily average prices last week slightly dropped to 108.26 dollars Tuesday and started jumping higher. It even surged 4.30 dollars Wednesday from 109.77 to 114.07 dollars and kept rising on Friday to 114.63 dollars.
As the main reason for the recent rebounding, some analysts attributed it to concerns on the further cooling relationship between Russia and western countries due to the South Ossetia conflict. In comparison with the "cold war," some experts also mentioned the U.S-deployed missiles in Poland and the Russia's strong reaction on this issue last week, saying it would deepen the international concerns on the geopolitical crisis and stimulate the oil prices rebounding higher.
Moreover, OPEC's senior officials said lately that the oil supply was more than enough. Venezuela's energy minister Rafael Rmirez said last Friday that "there is plenty of oil in the market" and indicated that the OPEC should consider cutting output at the upcoming September meeting if the recent prices drop led to a sustained downturn.
Meanwhile, the profit taking in the commodity market and the recovery in the U.S. dollars also helped the prices go back to a higher place. It showed also that the short-term bottom of the prices had been touched, said experts.
