Elevated oil prices are partly due to risk premiums, not fundamental factors, the deputy governor of the Saudi central bank said on Wednesday.

"I think higher oil prices have a lot to do with risk premium from geopolitical uncertainties and from low oil refinery capacities in the major industrial countries," Mohamed al-Jasser said at a banking conference.

Oil was trading above $78 a barrel, close to its record high, after Opec's token output increase on Tuesday failed to allay worries about falling inventories during the coming winter. - Reuters