Jeddah starts oil price dialogue, but no quick fix
World energy powers embarked on a new level of dialogue to rein in runaway oil prices at an emergency meeting in this Red Sea city, but were unlikely to come up with a quick fix.
Host Saudi Arabia vowed to pump yet more oil in response to consumer countries’ requests, but said that alone would not be enough to calm a market driven by an array of factors.
“In this critical hour, the world community should rise to its responsibility and cooperation should be the cornerstone of any efforts,” Saudi King Abdullah said at the meeting, calling for a global “energy-for-the-poor” initiative.
He promised $500 million in soft loans and called for a $1 billion OPEC fund to help the world’s poor cope with soaring prices that nearly hit $140 a barrel last week.
The cost of crude has doubled in a year — fuelling inflation around the globe and sparking protests from Asia to Western Europe pay day advance. To curb the rising cost of fuel and food, the world’s major central banks may start raising interest rates.
Concrete measures were unlikely to emerge from major producers, consumers and leading oil company executives gathered here to reverse what some see as the world’s third oil shock.
“What I’ve heard so far are basically all good ideas, but it will probably not change the price tomorrow morning,” Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO Jeroen van der Veer told Reuters.
The Shell CEO and others here took part in a similar session two months ago in Rome, but producers and consumers failed to agree publicly that oil prices were too high.
Filed under: technology by Fred