JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that it would do everything possible to curb rising oil prices, which it blamed on geopolitics and speculators.
“The Kingdom looks... with great interest to oil market stability that will protect the interests of producers and consumers and promote world economic growth,” an official statement said. “As the world’s biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia has not and will not spare any effort to achieve oil market stability. Its oil policy aims always to foster and strengthen cooperation and dialogue between oil producing and consuming countries.”
The statement comes ahead of tomorrow’s International Energy Conference at Jeddah Hilton, which will be opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. Heads of state and ministers from 35 countries as well as top executives of 25 oil companies and seven international organizations are expected to attend the conference.
In an abrupt reversal, Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has decided he will attend the summit, a government official said yesterday. Days earlier Ramirez told reporters he would not attend the meeting.
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi expressed his satisfaction over the tremendous response to King Abdullah’s call for a meeting of oil producers and consumers in Jeddah to discuss ways to curb unjustifiable rise in oil prices that hit nearly $140 per barrel last week.
Al-Naimi has invited members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as major non-OPEC producers, including Russia, China and Mexico, to the summit. King Abdullah will give a speech at the opening session, emphasizing the Kingdom’s efforts to stabilize the market. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Al-Naimi will also address the summit.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting, the state media said in Beijing. China decided to send its highest-level official to the summit as the world’s second-largest energy user appears to take up a bigger role in the international oil arena after oil prices skyrocketed.
Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, yesterday called for a consensus on removing sanctions and soothing security fears to boost oil investment in the region.
“Removing obstacles to investment would be a good way to boost extra capacity in the mid and long term, not by just removing sanctions on Iran...but also removing problems caused by tensions, threats and interventions from outside countries in the region,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran’s governor to the OPEC, said.
Western sanctions against Iran have stymied international investment in its vast oil and gas fields. “The oil industry needs peace and stability to invest in production and refining” Khatibi added.
List of attendees
US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
German Minister Michael Glos
French Minister Jean-Louis Borloo
Canadian Minister Gary Lunn
Japanese Energy Minister Akira Amari
Qatari Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah
UAE Minister Mohammed Al-Hamli
Iranian Gholamhossein Nozari
Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping
Mexican Minister Georgina Kessel
Venezuelan Minister Rafael Ramirez
OPEC Secretary-General Al-Badri
IEA Director Nobuo Tanaka
EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs
Nippon Oil Chairman Fumiaki Watari
Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer
BP CEO Tony Hayward
Chevron Corp. CEO David O’Reilly
ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva
Total SA CEO Christophe de Margerie
