Price of Oil: Supply & Demand + Speculation?

The Financial Times has an article with a misleading scare headline on Drudge of "No Relief. Saudi Oil Minister Rejects OPEC Raise." That's for next week's meeting. Minister Ali Naimi goes on to say:

But with prices close to $100 a barrel, Mr Naimi left the door open to action when the oil cartel meets in Abu Dhabi next month, signalling the group was “watching” the market very carefully and Saudi Arabia would “look at all the information available”.

Nonetheless, he said a decision on a rise at the Abu Dhabi meeting was still “premature”.

Repeating Saudi Arabia’s argument that Opec had “nothing to do with where the price is today”, Mr Naimi said oil inventory levels were still comfortable

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Long-time OPEC watchers believe that the markets will self-correct as consumption declines, trouble spots like the western Gulf of Mexico and Nigerian Delta are corrected, and speculative options traders calm down.

Unless a disaster occurs, the dreaded $100 psychological plateau will not be achieved.