October 15, 2009
The executive director of the International Energy Agency expressed his concern over the rapid increase in oil prices on Wednesday at the organization's ministerial meeting in Paris.
"The rapid hike of the price is certainly a concern," Nobuo Tanaka told a news conference which opens the meeting held at the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Crude oil futures jumped to 75.17 U.S. dollars per barrel on Wednesday, the highest price of 2009.
"We have increased our predictions for demand... but data from the field is not that promising," he added.
Oil producer group OPEC raised its forecasts for world demand on Tuesday by 300,000 bpd, up from its previous forecast to average 28.39 million bpd for 2010.
When asked about the upcoming Copenhagen Conference, Tanaka said although the result won't be known until the last minute, he is "cautiously optimistic" as "the slowdown of economic activity created a drop in CO2 emissions which is the first time since World War II..."
The Copenhagen Conference in this December is a vital event for tackling climate change, since it aims at a new agreement that would assign legal carbon caps to individual countries after the Kyoto Protocol's expiration in 2012.
IEA, established in 1974 after the oil crisis, kicks off its two-day ministerial meeting on Wednesday, energy ministers from 28member countries will discuss the challenges and response concerning energy utilization and climate change.