Record oil not producers' fault: Angola oil min

By Anna Driver

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Angola's minister of petroleum on Monday said producing nations are not responsible for record-high crude oil prices and they are not profiting from them.

"OPEC's interest is for a dialogue," Desiderio Costa, Angola's minister of petroleum, told reporters after speaking at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas. "The reason why the price is high is not from the responsibility of the producer."

He cited speculative investors in the market and the decline in the U.S. dollar as two reasons that have helped propel crude oil futures prices to a record of $120 per barrel.

"The profit is not going to the producer," Costa said, without elaborating.

OPEC has declined to increase production despite calls to do so from consumer nations.

Earlier, Costa said he expects his country's oil production to rise to 2 million barrels per day next year, boosted by ultra deepwater projects.

"The potential for growth is great," Costa told the meeting.

Angola's current production is 1.9 million barrels per day, he said.