June 09, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 04, 1429

AOMORI (Japan), June 8: Eleven nations that guzzle nearly two-thirds of the world’s energy called on Sunday for an urgent hike in global oil production as host Japan warned the world could plunge into recession.

Energy ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrial powers met in the northern Japanese city of Aomori with officials from China, India and South Korea in the wake of a record spike in oil prices.

The 11 nations represented here voiced “serious concerns” over the level of oil prices and said there was an “urgent need for increased and timely investment in the energy sector.”

In a joint statement, they called for boost to their own production and asked major oil producers “to increase investment to keep markets well supplied in response to rising world demand.”

The countries also agreed to establish a new framework – called the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (Ipeec) – under which they can share ideas about how to save energy. The first meeting of Ipeec is to be held this year.

The 11-nation talks came after oil prices on Friday posted their highest ever one-day gain of nearly 11 dollars, hitting a new record of $138.54 in New York trade.

“If we leave this situation as it is, it could lead to a recession of the world economy,” Japan’s energy minister Akira Amari said as he opened the meeting.

Oil prices have soared five-fold since 2003 due to a variety of factors, including turbulence in the Middle East and rising demand in emerging economies such as China and India.

In a nod that they were not pinning all the blame on oil producers, the 11 nations said the oil market faced structural problems, including the growth of global demand, particularly in transportation. The European Union’s energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs warned that high oil prices were a fact to be reckoned with and major economies needed to come up with alternative energy.—AFP