World Petroleum Conference/Spain

Big oil players in Madrid to bring down prices

Article published on the 2008-06-30 Latest update 2008-07-01 08:15 TU

European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
(Photo: Reuters)

Representatives from the world’s largest oil-producing countries and international oil groups are meeting in Madrid this week looking to fight skyrocketing crude prices, but they remain divided over the root causes of the rising prices.

A week after an emergency meeting called by Saudi Arabia failed to produce concrete results, more than 3,000 delegates came together this morning for the four-day World Petroleum Conference (WPC), as oil hit a record high 143 dollars per barrel.

“We have this new reality of very high oil prices causing some inflation in other countries, and we’re still working out how to live with that,” Bruno Moczydlower, spokesperson for the WPC, told RFI.

Oil consuming countries are accusing speculators of driving prices up, but oil companies deny this, saying that a lack of adequate supply in the face of growing demand is to blame.

OPEC countries strongly oppose any significant production increases, despite Saudi Arabia’s decision to increase its daily production by 200,000 barrels per day.

Coming to terms with these disagreements will be centre stage at the conference. “There’s probably no better time for the WPC to be meeting,” said Tony Hayward, the chief executive at the British oil group BP.

Environmental issues will also be on the table, with new extraction and refining technologies being discussed. A proposal to take carbon dioxide emissions and pump them into underground caverns is drawing a lot of interest in the sector.

“Our industry has to readapt the way we work, the way we produce to fit in with new environmental concerns", Moczydlower said.

At the same time, more than 60 NGOs and environmental groups are meeting at a parallel counter-conference to encourage energy saving and alternative fuels as a preferable solution to rising prices instead of increasing production.

Berta Iglesias, spokesperson for the counter-conference told RFI that another way forward is possible. “We think it's important to be against the oil system, and imagine some alternatives to this,” Iglesias said.