Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said here Sunday crude oil price stability was just a matter of time and OPEC had the matter under control.
"It is just a matter of time. We have it under control," he told reporters during a morning jog just ahead of a meeting in Vienna of the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"If we can stabilize it, that is the whole thing," he added.
He called for calm on the markets, saying speculation about supply shortfalls now or gluts early next year was damaging.
"We don't need doomsayers," said the minister, representing the world's biggest crude oil supplier.
"That is unhealthy talk. It is unhealthy for the consumers and unhealthy for the producers," he added.
"Alarmists don't help us" -- VIENNA (AFP)
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