US, UK and Japan to discuss oil supply since $100 milestone

Representatives from the US, UK and Japan are set to meet tomorrow to discuss the global supply of oil after fuel prices topped $100 a barrel earlier this year.

John Hutton, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Sam Bodman, are expected to attend the meeting on Friday along with the International Energy Agency (IEA).

European Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs will participate by telephone.

Discussions between the states are taking place before a meeting on February 1 between the 13 oil producing countries collectively known as Opec, which produce about 40 per cent of the world's crude oil.

Opec has been facing pressure to increase the supply of fuel to help stablise the price of oil, which has fallen back from its $100 per barrel high, but is still trading at $88.

Last month, Opec rejected called to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day from the cartel's current daily output of 27.25 million barrels, arguing that the global market for crude oil was "well-supplied".

“The ministers are very much concerned about the current level of price and they want to share their views,” said IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka.

“We are always calling for producing countries to take the market signs more carefully and I wish - these are the member governments of the IEA - will take a similar view.”

From Times Online and Agencies