JEDDAH: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday offered to open his country’s energy markets to oil-producing states and urged them to reinvest some of the $3 trillion additional revenue realized from the current oil boom. “They can invest in UK energy production, including wind, solar and a new wave of nuclear power stations,” the prime minister said in an address to the Jeddah Energy Meeting.
Brown, who followed the inaugural address by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdulah, said his government plans, to be published in the coming week, would put a price tag of 100 billion pounds for the UK to meet its share of an EU target to generate 20 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. “Much of this could come from the sovereign wealth funds of Gulf states,” he said.
The premier said that major oil producing countries had accepted for the first time that prices were too high, but he declined to predict what level they would reach. Agreement had been secured with members of the OPEC that record crude prices of almost $140 a barrel were causing damage and investment was needed to increase supply, he added.
Brown, who also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal, held out the prospect of a fall in the price of oil after the landmark meeting here attended by 35 oil producing and consuming countries, some of them represented by high-level ministerial delegations.
“The reason I am here is that I am worried about the price of petrol; I’m worried about gas and electricity bills, I’m worried about how millions of people are being affected in their standard of living,” Brown later told reporters.
Brown said Britain had entered into commitments with Saudi Arabia to develop environment-friendly carbon capture and storage technology; with Qatar to explore the possibility of a new joint energy fund; and with the UAE to work on opportunities in nuclear energy.
A decision on an 800 million pound Norwegian investment in the Scira wind farm project off the British coast is expected soon.
— With input from agencies
