Moscow — Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih Thursday said geopolitical tensions and speculators were behind the recent rise in oil prices to four-year highs, not collusion by OPEC and its allies. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now OPEC has been increasing its oil production since June and inventories are rising counter-cyclically, Falih said at the Russia Energy Week forum in Moscow. “That proves the point that fundamentals are not behind it,” the minister said. “The market has a strong influence. The true elephant in the room is geopolitics. This has all combined to feed the market frenzy.” He reiterated that Saudi Arabia has ample spare production capacity which it is ready to use if the market needs it. With the kingdom producing 10.7 million b/d, it has some 1.3 million b/d of spare capacity available. “We are doing everything we can and then […]