Government ministers from oil-rich nations and international oil company executives are meeting in Rome for a three-day energy conference that ends Tuesday.

While the energy ministers of most OPEC states will be present, the group is not expected to announce any policy shifts during the International Energy Forum, which being held as crude oil prices have reached a new high of $117 a barrel.

OPEC's Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri says that more oil on the market will not mean lower prices. Al-Badri says rising oil prices has nothing to do with supply and demand.

"OPEC will not hesitate to increase the production if we think that's the higher price because of shortage of oil in the market, but we are confident that it's not a shortage of oil, it's something else,"

The comments came as government ministers from oil-rich nations and international oil company executives met in Rome for a three-day energy conference that ends last Tuesday.

Al-Badri's comments are echoed by Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mizra, Bahrain's oil and gas minister. He predictes prices will remain high.

"They are not going to go down to the levels that were there before, but how much higher it will go of course depends on a number of things - the geo-political situation, whether there is a natural catastrophe, whether there are speculations in the market, whether there are strikes in certain producing countries, So there are many other factors, other than OPEC production."

Meantime the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell says Biofuels will not solve the world's energy problem, amid growing criticism of their environmental and social benefits.