G7 wants Opec to pump more oil

NEW YORK – The Group of Seven top economic powers are set this weekend to call on oil-producing nations to lower sky-high energy prices by pumping more crude.

G7 finance officials meeting in New York are worried record oil prices – which earlier this month topped US$40 a barrel for the first time – will dent the rosiest economic outlook in years by hitting business and consumers and stoking inflation. “The (G7) statement will invite Opec countries to increase their oil production and will contain an appreciation of Saudi Arabia’s position on increasing its production,” a G7 source told Reuters on Saturday.Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, who met earlier in Amsterdam, deferred any decision on upping output to a meeting in Beirut on June 3 but said the cartel wanted to cut fuel costs to support the world economy.Saudi Arabia is pushing for an Opec output hike of up to 2,5 million barrels a day and has pledged to pump more oil itself in any event.”What I am thinking is that Opec increase between 2,3-2,5 million barrels a day and this will give us a kind of credibility,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told Sunday’s edition of the Arabic-language daily al-Hayat.G7, meantime, wants Opec to honour a long-term commitment to stabilise oil prices between US$22 and US$28 per barrel.US Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s plan and said he would back a G7 call for an Opec-wide pledge.Britain’s Gordon Brown, Germany’s Hans Eichel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier penned a joint statement to that effect too.Canada’s Ralph Goodale, who opted out of the G7 meeting because of election commitments at home, also gave support.He called Snow and Brown, and the three agreed the G7 should be “pressing for appropriate increases in global (oil) production to help moderate the global economy,” a spokesman said on Saturday.- Nampa-Reuters”The (G7) statement will invite Opec countries to increase their oil production and will contain an appreciation of Saudi Arabia’s position on increasing its production,” a G7 source told Reuters on Saturday.Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, who met earlier in Amsterdam, deferred any decision on upping output to a meeting in Beirut on June 3 but said the cartel wanted to cut fuel costs to support the world economy.Saudi Arabia is pushing for an Opec output hike of up to 2,5 million barrels a day and has pledged to pump more oil itself in any event.”What I am thinking is that Opec increase between 2,3-2,5 million barrels a day and this will give us a kind of credibility,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told Sunday’s edition of the Arabic-language daily al-Hayat.G7, meantime, wants Opec to honour a long-term commitment to stabilise oil prices between US$22 and US$28 per barrel.US Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s plan and said he would back a G7 call for an Opec-wide pledge.Britain’s Gordon Brown, Germany’s Hans Eichel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier penned a joint statement to that effect too.Canada’s Ralph Goodale, who opted out of the G7 meeting because of election commitments at home, also gave support.He called Snow and Brown, and the three agreed the G7 should be “pressing for appropriate increases in global (oil) production to help moderate the global economy,” a spokesman said on Saturday.- Nampa-Reuters