After a short lull, the allegations of speculators driving the oil markets have surfaced again.

Brahim Aklil, a senior oil price analyst at Opec, noted at the Offshore Arabia Conference yesterday that it is speculators and not real demand that is driving up the buoyant looking oil prices.

"The price [of oil] is driven heavily by speculators. When they take a future position they also determine the price now [spot prices]," Aklil said. "Hedge funds are really doing a lot in the market. They are really driving the prices."

Nymex crude for delivery in May was priced at $81.36 a barrel in the afternoon session yesterday, having risen 2.32 per cent from the previous day's close.

The comments came after a period of time during which countries across the world, particularly the US, have shown an inclination to oppose high levels of speculation on their mercantile exchanges. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US-based regulator of commodities exchanges, recently laid clamps on the maximum positions that a trader can take on any of the country's commodity exchanges.

Aklil pointed out that he does not consider speculators as gamblers. "They take positions depending on forecasts from the market."

According to the latest Opec report, the world oil demand is expected to grow by 0.9 mb/d in 2010, following a contraction of 1.4 mb/d in the previous year. This represents an upward revision of 0.1 mb/d from the previous assessment.

"We are continuously making new assessments based on feedbacks from the markets. We may still change our forecast for 2010," Aklil said.

Oil demand has been highly dependent upon the pace of the global economic recovery. OECD demand is still expected to remain at negative growth of around 0.15 mb/d, while non-OECD demand is projected to grow by 1.0 mb/d, driven by China and the Middle East region. "It's India and China that will drive oil demand in 2010," Aklil said.