'Cheap oil era gone': CNOOC boss

BEIJING - Oil prices will keep their growth momentum in the long run due to the ballooning exploration costs and the hike in energy demand on the back of the accelerating global industrialization pace, said Fu Chengyu, chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the country's biggest marine oil producer.

In the short term, the ample liquidity, a weak dollar, and the expectation for the appreciation of the Chinese yuan against US dollar will also push up oil prices, Fu said on Wednesday in Beijing.

"The cheap oil era is gone," Fu said, elaborating that compared with the past 10 years, oil exploration costs have surged more quickly as more oil is discovered in geopolitically sensitive regions such as the Middle East.