High oil prices threat to global economy : IEA

Singapore – December 14, 2011 : High oil prices threaten to worsen a global economic slowdown and crude producers should consider boosting output, the chief economist for the International Energy Agency (IEA) Mr Fatih Birol said. Birol suggested crude producers should boost output amid growing demand in developing countries and falling inventories in wealthy nations.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is meeting later Wednesday in Vienna to decide whether to change the cartel’s output quotas. More than 90% of global crude production growth during the next 20 years will come from that region, led by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria and United Arab Emirates, Birol said.

Crude has jumped to $100 a barrel from $75 in October amid signs the US economy will likely avoid a recession. Most economists expect global economic growth to slow next year as Europe’s debt crisis threatens to drag the continent into recession.