G8 Encourages Energy Investment to Prevent Surge in Oil Prices
May 26 (Bloomberg) — Reduced spending on energy threatens to slow the economic rebound, trigger a surge in prices and hurt future prosperity, the Group of Eight industrialized nations said at the close of their meeting in Rome.
“The current financial and economic crisis must not delay investments and programmed energy projects which are essential to economic recovery and sustainable prosperity,” ministers from the G8 and 15 other countries including Saudi Arabia, China and India said in their concluding statement yesterday after a three-day meeting.
The global economic slowdown has restricted credit for new energy projects and eroded demand for fuels, leading to a 58 percent slump in crude prices from their high of $147.27 a barrel in July. Oil companies’ spending this year dropped almost $100 billion, or 21 percent, according to a report this month from International Energy Agency.