The government of Algeria is "not in anyway opposed" to the holding of dialogue between producers and consumers of oil and oil products over the current energy crisis, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil has said.
"Algeria is not opposed to a producer-consumer dialogue," the Algerian energy minister, who is also the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was quoted as saying Tuesday by the official Algerian News Service (APS).
The minister was giving his government's position with regard to a proposal by Saudi Arabia to organize global energy crisis meeting in a bid to promote dialogue between the oil-producing and consuming nations, according to the APS.
On Monday, Riyadh had announced that its Council of Ministers had instructed the Saudi Petroleum Minister Ali Al-Nouaimi to quickly organize "a meeting bringing together representatives producing and consuming countries and firms operating in the production, export and marketing of oil."
The meeting, which is expected to be held within the foreseeable future, is designed to examine the prevailing situation in the international oil market which is characterized by soaring prices, according to Saudi authorities.
"Producing countries are still open to dialogue. It would not be wrong to discuss not only the current market situation but also oil prices and costs bearing in mind that if the price of a barrel is increasing, that of equipment and services has also tripled within the last two years," said the Algerian minister.
"The meeting should certainly not ignore the fact that the central issue here is speculation (of oil)," said the Algerian minister, adding that joint efforts were needed to combat the current situation.
So far, the Saudi initiative has been welcomed by the United States, Britain and Kuwait, but Iran, one of the world's leading crude oil exporters has expressed caution over the proposal.
Runaway oil prices have already led to strikes and demonstrations across much of the Western Europe, especially in energy intensive sectors such as fishing and long-distance transportation, where players are saying that the prices are "a threat to their livelihood."
According to experts, the prices, which have hit unprecedented levels in recent days, have also been blamed for high inflation and staple food prices in the developing world, with a number of countries reporting what has come to be known as "food riots."
Source: Xinhua
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