UAE minister Obaid al-Nasseri: High prices not Opec's fault

The Oil Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Obaid al-Nasseri, was quoted on Monday as saying the current high oil price was not Opec's fault.

Instead he reportedly blamed market speculators and fuel taxes imposed by governments of consumer nations.

Media anger

But it is in the government-controlled press that Gulf Arab oil producers let their strongest views be known.

Gulf Arabs say Western governments earn oil taxes for doing nothing

On Monday the Emirati newspaper, al-Ittihad, said Western countries should stop accusing Opec of causing confusion in the oil market.

The paper said it was time for European countries to revise their taxes on petrol and oil products to restore stability to the market.

It is these taxes which were at the heart of the disagreement between Opec's oil producers and the industrialised oil consuming countries of the West.

Western freeloaders

For years now Gulf Arab oil producers have been pointing to the injustice of Western governments making so much money from Arab oil by charging high taxes.

They say that while the European governments get money for nothing, they the producers are depleting almost their only natural resource.

Now that Opec has agreed to pump more oil to bring down prices, Arab governments expect the West to play its part by reducing its taxes on petrol.