High oil prices are here to stay, and one official says they’re caused by surging demand and limited supply, not Wall Street speculators, CNNMoney.com reported.

“Speculators are only responding to what is going on in the markets,” said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, in an interview with CNNMoney. “We don’t see enough oil in the markets. The major driver is supply and demand.”

Birol said growth in worldwide oil demand is outstripping growth in new supplies by 1 million barrels a day. Much of that new demand is coming from China, which is adding 800,000 vehicles to its roads each year, he said, and is responsible for half of the world’s demand growth.

Plus, he said, countries that export oil are not doing enough to invest in new production, and countries that use a lot of oil are not doing enough to cut back, which isn’t good news for American drivers.

“We have to learn to live with these higher prices,” Birol said. “They are here for a long time.”

Birol’s view is not shared by everyone. Other analysts say plenty of new production from places such as Iraq and off the coast of Brazil should combine with sluggish worldwide economic growth to create an oil surplus for at least the next few years.

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http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/28/news/economy/oil_prices_speculators/index.htm