& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

US admn steps up energy diplomacy

Clinton warns OPEC on high oil prices
WASHINGTON. Mar 8 : US crude oil prices galloped above $34 a barrel yesterday, and President Bill Clinton warned the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries that their members could face sliding demand and eventually less revenue if prices remain this high, says Reuters.
The administration also said it was stepping up energy diplomacy with hastily arranged sessions with OPEC members Venezuela and Qatar.
US crude futures closed sharply higher in fever-pitch trading on Tuesday, leaping $1.95 per barrel — or five per cent — to close at $34.13 a barrel. The price was the highest since November 1990. three months after Iraq invaded Kuwait.
OPEC Is firmly in the driver's seat as members prepare for a March 27 meeting to set production for the coming six months amid dwindling world inventories and soaring crude oil prices.
American lawmakers are
clamouring for the administration to cut off foreign aid. cancel arms sales and take other tough action against OPEC to prod the cartel into pumping more oil. But the White House has repeatedly said it prefers to first try diplomatic overtures.
"Sure. I want oil prices to go down some, but the producing countries should want them to go down some, too." Clinton told reporters at a White House news conference. "What we want are stable oil prices that aren't too high."
Depleted oil stocks around the globe, caused mainly by cuts in OPEC production, have left consuming nations on the short end of a supply squeeze at a time of rising demand. Clinton said oil producing countries must understand that high prices will hurt them in the longer-term.
Two outcomes are likely, he said. "You will either have a big drop in demand from (high) oil prices....and it will cut the revenues of the oil-producing countries below where they would
have been if they'd maintained stable prices at a lower level." Clinton said.
"Or. you will have a lot of non-OPEC members, who aren't subject to their agreement. start increasing their production, taking market share away from them." he said.
The oil price spike also prompted Federal reserve Bank officials to express concern about economic growth.
Fed Governor Edward Gramlich told reporters the bank was "obviously concerned" about higher oil prices even though oil plays less of a role in the US economy than it did during the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s. Robert McTeer, who heads the Fed bank in Dallas, said US inflation would not turn lower until oil prices eased.
Meanwhile. US energy Secretary Bill Richardson was to meet on Tuesday with the oil minister of Qatar, a tiny Gulf producer that is an OPEC member and a traditional US ally.