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The International Energy Agency warns against rising oil prices

Stephen Beard Jan 5, 2011
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The International Energy Agency warns against rising oil prices

Stephen Beard Jan 5, 2011
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JEREMY HOBSON: There’s a stark warning this morning for oil producers. Pump more oil, or see high fuel prices derail the global economic recovery. The warning comes from an international energy watchdog, as Marketplace’s Stephen Beard reports from London.


STEPHEN BEARD: The International Energy Agency says the cost of importing oil rose sharply last year. America’s energy import bill alone jumped by $72 billion. This is getting dangerous says the agency. High oil prices push up the cost of a wide range of goods and services. And those higher prices could tip Europe and the U.S. back into crisis. The IEA’s chief economist of Fatih Birol. He told Marketplace today the oil exporters must pump more crude.

FATIH BIROL: If the producing countries do not respond to this high amount of demand by increasing their production this may well mean higher prices than we have now, which is, in turn, bad news for all of us.

The oil producer’s cartel OPEC seems unlikely to heed that call. Last week its members made clear they are not planning to increase production.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

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