Oil summit calls for greater investment

World oil producer and consumer nations have called for increased investment in oil production and greater transparency and regulation of financial markets as part of measures aimed at taming record oil prices.

The final communique of the emergency oil summit held in Saudi Arabia on Sunday said current oil prices were harming the world economy and urged all parties to work together to bring stability to the market.

"Current oil prices and their volatility are detrimental to the global economy and in particular the economies of least developed countries," the statement said.

The statement was jointly issued by the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC, Saudi Arabia and the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum (IEF).

As expected, the final communique did not set out any specific steps toward curbing runaway prices, which hit a fresh all-time high above $139 a barrel last week.

Sources had said earlier in the day the final statement was unlikely to contain any hard measures or targets to combat prices.

Some analysts expressed concern the lack of action could drive crude prices up further.

In addition to increase in investment in oil production and greater market transparency, the final communique said all parties had agreed the quality of oil data needed to be improved and the IAE, which represents consumer nations, and OPEC should work together more.

The communique also said assistance should be provided to poorer nations to help them cope with high prices and energy efficiency should be promoted in all sectors.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah had earlier in the day proposed creating a $1 billion OPEC fund and offered $500 million in Saudi soft loans to help poor countries cope with high oil prices.

Speaking at the opening of the summit, the king also urged the creation of what he described as an international energy-for-the poor initiative and called on the World Bank to arrange a meeting to discuss it.

The communique said all parties had agreed to form a working group to follow up on the recommendations, with the UK set to hold another summit before the end of the year to assess the progress made.

At the summit, top exporter Saudi Arabia said it was ready to pump more oil for the rest of the year, although added that the move was unlikely to tame prices as markets were already well-supplied.

Saudi Arabia has already said it will produce 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, marking an increase in output of 550,000 bpd since May. The kingdom said it would pump at or above that level for the rest of the year if there was demand from its customers.

It is unclear whether other OPEC members will follow suit, with the cartel's President Chakib Khelil saying on Sunday that OPEC producers should wait until September to decide any change to current oil output levels.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also pledged to open Britain's energy markets to foreign investors in a "new deal" designed to promote clean energy and end a conflict of interest between oil producers and consumers.

Brown unveiled plans to work with Saudi Arabia on technology to capture carbon emissions from energy plants, with the United Arab Emirates on nuclear technology and with Qatar on a joint energy fund to invest in British energy industries.

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