Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told oil consumers Tuesday that they should get used to high prices and not blame the country for the spike in the price of crude, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.
"Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and the mechanisms of the market," the king said in an interview published Tuesday in Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassah.
Abdullah's comments came as the price of oil jumped past $143 a barrel for the first time.
The king contends that speculators are to blame for the rising costs, a claim that has been denied by the International Energy Agency, AFP reported.
"Often it is a case of political expediency to find a scapegoat for higher prices rather than undertake serious analysis or perhaps confront difficult decisions," the IEA told AFP.
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