Fluctuating oil prices 'no cause for alarm'

Fluctuating oil prices should not cause alarm, but are a key source of global instability, participants in a round-table discussion on economic issues at the World Economic Forum said today.

Oil prices have soared in recent weeks, with the degenerating security situation in Iraq and a recent terror attack on a petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia fuelling the upward drive. Analysts have cited lost production in Iraq coupled with lower production in Nigeria and Venezuela as well as exploding demand from China as worsening the situation.