BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN APEC ministers from both oil-producing and importing nations on Monday called for stability on the world oil markets as the price of crude surged to a 10-year high.
The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation forum agreed that high oil prices were in nobody's interest, APEC trade and foreign ministers said in a declaration after a two-day meeting.
"Ministers noted the risks posed by oil market volatility to economic development and called for appropriate measures to promote greater long-term market stability in the mutual interests of consumers and producers," they said.
"In this regard, ministers welcomed efforts by member economies this year to balance oil markets," said their declaration, which will be submitted to APEC leaders including U.S. President Bill Clinton meeting here from Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer noted that Australia was roughly balanced in the amount of oil it imports and exports.
But many recovering East Asian economies were not, he told a joint ministerial news conference. "When oil prices have gone up as much as they have, whilst that may be beneficial to some of the members sitting here, there's no doubt that volatility in oil prices poses very real risks to some of the economies in East Asia that have recovered very well from the crisis," Downer said.
Chief U.S. APEC official Lawrence Greenwood said APEC was sending an important message, as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries met in Vienna. "It's very important that APEC is sending a message about the importance of cooperative action to make the energy market more stable because we know the high oil prices we see are good for neither oil producers or consumers," Greenwood told the news conference.
But he downplayed the prospect of a regional oil-pooling agreement to minimize the damage done by volatility on world markets.
"The point is not so much sharing stocks but exchanging information on managing stocks," the U.S. official said.