A leading oil industry executive has blamed speculators for driving the price of oil to record highs.

Peter Voser, finance director of Shell, said that he believed that soaring oil prices were being driven by speculation and political tension, not a lack of supply.

“We find it hard to explain oil at $100 a barrel. I don’t see anyone queing for fuel and nor are there any physical shortages,” Mr Voser said.

“The price seems to be driven by some speculation and also has a political premium in it, rather than actually some of the fundamental drivers,” he added.

The comments are the first time that a Western oil company executive has appeared to agree with the view of the OPEC exporters’ group that oil’s surge to a record high largely reflects speculative trading.

Brent crude prices hit an all-time high of $86.28 a barrel yesterday after a decline in inventories of crude in the United States renewed fears of a supply crunch this winter.

Mr Voser said that Shell’s huge capital expenditure programme - roughly $22 to $23 billion a year - was intended to position the world’s second biggest oil company for the next 30 to 40 years, whatever the oil price.

“We have positioned Shell to take full advantage of high oil prices but all our projects are measured against lower oil prices. Whatever the oil price is, it doesn’t change our strategy,” Mr Voser said.

His comments came as Shell revealed a moderate decline in third quarter profits, in contrast to a 27 per cent fall in underlying profits at BP unveiled earlier this week.

Shell saw its third quarter profits slide only 8 per cent to $6.4 billion, despite industry-wide weakness in refining margins and lower production volumes.

Excluding exceptional gains, Shell's profits came in at $6.1 billion, nine per cent above City forecasts of about $5.6 billion.

The results have helped reinforce the impression that Shell has the upper hand of the two oil majors, after the scandal over mis-stating reserves.

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