Here is the text of the article published in the Gulf Times entitled "Arab States To Remain Top Oil Suppliers" by Nadim Kawach and Stanley Carvalho:

Arab states will remain the dominant global oil suppliers for decades to come despite a hectic bid by major consumers to find other supply sources and shun the volatile Middle East, Obeid bin Saif Al Nasiri, U.A.E. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, said yesterday.

He said instability in the region because of the Arab-Israeli conflict has combined with speculations in the global market and over-supply by some producers to destabilize prices and prompt OPEC to take measures to restore balance.

Addressing an oil conference in Abu Dhabi, Nasiri said OPEC had so far managed to maintain relative stability in crude prices while a former U.S. Presidential candidate spoke about the need for international long-term agreement to ensure fair oil prices.

"The Arab region, specifically the Gulf, possesses enormous natural resources ... it controls the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world and such a wealth makes it the principal energy supplier not only for the time being but for decades to come," Nasiri told the conference entitled "The Role of Oil and Gas in World Politics."

"But the state of instability in our Arab region because of the conflict with Israel is adversely affecting efforts to achieve stability in the oil market and giving consumer countries an excuse to invest in other less economically feasible areas to reduce their dependence on the Middle East and find alternative supply sources."

Nasiri said such attempts ran parallel to long-standing plans by the industrial nations to search for other sources of energy by imposing heavy taxes on oil and expanding the use of other sources that are more harmful to the environment, including coal.

He said most developed countries have succeeded in cutting the cost of non-oil energy sources by making heavy investment in cost-cutting research but added that such sources as the Sun, water and wind still have slight contribution to global energy consumption.

"Despite their success in reducing the production costs in some non-oil fields, such sources still do not pose a real challenge to oil and other commercial energy sources in the near future," he said at the conference, held under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister.

Nasiri said OPEC is struggling to ensure fair oil prices to consumers by keeping them within the range of $22-28 despite tension in the Middle East, global economic slowdown and the September 11 suicide bombings in the United States.

He noted the September events have had a strong impact on the world's economy and sharply depressed prices but they have recovered to the price range targetted by the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"Prices recovered only because OPEC and other producers were quick in taking crucial measures to restore balance to the market and ensure fair prices. Prices have now reached nearly $25 which is the average price in OPEC's $22-28 range ... but it should be noted that the global markets will always be affected by several factors, including the level of demand and supply, crude stockpiles, speculations and rumours in the market, political instability and other elements."

Addressing the conference at Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-up, former U.S. Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche proposed what he called medium- to long-term global agreements on relatively fixed fair prices for commodities, especially oil.

He said a fair price means the price at which the average supplier nation can continue to contribute, profitably, the volume and quality of product which the world economy requires.

"Stable prices of essential raw materials, such as petroleum, combined with nominal long-term rates of simple interest on primary flows of international credit, are a crucial necessity, if a durable process of reconstruction is to exist," he said.

"These measures must be adopted, not as a matter of taste, but as a matter of survival. Sometimes, when the ship is sinking, no sane passenger says ‘but I refuse to be seen on a life-raft.'"

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