Gas/Oil Prices Caused by Lack of Investment/Foresight

BRUSSELS (AP) — The chairman of oil giant BP said Wednesday that high oil prices stem from industry's failure to invest enough for surging demand. Oil prices have quadrupled in the last seven years, hitting a record high June 6 when traders paid $139.12 a barrel. Peter Sutherland, BP's chairman, said the high prices were not driven by market speculators or fears that oil is running out but an unexpected increase in demand. "We just didn't predict how fast demand would take off," he said at an event in Brussels organized by the European Policy Centre think tank. "The high price that we have today is caused, in my view, by the inability of the industry to easily supply rising demand, and this isn't because of the lack of available resources but because of inadequate investment in both production and complex refining capacity," he said.