OPEC chief demands rich nations act on crisis

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 10:06 AM Posted by Beijing News


The head of the OPEC oil cartel on Monday demanded "action not words" from top world leaders to drag the world out of the economic crisis that is depressing oil prices.

"We have not seen any positive actions from the countries that created these problems," OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri told reporters after a meeting here at which the organisation refrained from a further cut in output.

"We hear a lot of stimulus packages, a lot of bailouts to the banks ... but we have not seen any positive signs," he added. "We would like to see actions, not words."

G20 finance ministers meeting on Saturday vowed to take "whatever action is necessary" on the world economic slowdown but they named no joint concrete measures in their statement ahead of a summit of world leaders on April 2.

Oil prices have plunged from highs above 147 dollars a barrel in July to a current level just above 40 dollars. El-Badri said this was equivalent to two trillion dollars' worth of aid by oil producers to the world economy.

This figure, equivalent to 1.5 trillion euros, was almost double the estimate given last week by the International Energy Agency.

"Some of that money saved on oil imports comes from OPEC countries and ... some of them are really poor and they are being affected by this," El-Badri said.

He hailed the OPEC member countries' efforts, agreed between September and December last year, to cut output by a total of 4.2 million barrels a day, to boost prices. OPEC said 80 percent of these cuts had so far been achieved.

"Of course 80 percent is very good. It's the first time ever they have achieved this percentage," he said, adding that the rest of these cuts should to be fulfilled to stem the amount of oil on the market further.









Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau, Brian Jones

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