Brown wants Opec to raise output

British finance minister Gordon Brown renewed a call on Tuesday for Opec to pump more oil and said co-ordinated international action is needed to stabilise world energy markets.
With some British hauliers threatening a repeat this week of blockades that brought the country to a standstill five years ago in protest at high fuel prices, Brown acknowledged their concern but said action has to be taken at a global level.
"Because this is, at root, a problem of demand outstripping supply, Opec must respond at its meeting on 19 September to rising demand by raising production," he said in a speech to unions in Brighton, southern England.
On Saturday, he had called on the cartel to raise output by a half a million barrels per day.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has already raised output by more than 4 million barrels per day over the past 3 years and is operating close to full capacity. Only Saudi Arabia has any significant capacity but its crude is not suitable for refiners to process into transport fuels and the closure of US refineries by Hurricane Katrina means Opec is struggling to find buyers for more supplies on world markets.
Brown said leading oil producers should use some of the money they have made in recent years to boost investment in production and refining capacity.
The opposition Conservatives said Brown's plans would not solve the problem. "Brown's proposal is a global fudge not a global solution," said Shadow Transport Secretary Alan Duncan. "His attitude to Opec is utterly colonial. Why should oil producers including those in poor countries like Yemen, Egypt and Venezuela, give up their revenue just so he can tax us more in Britain to increase his?"
The UK Treasury said in July it would not go ahead with the fuel duty increase it had planned for September 1 because of high oil prices and said any other decisions on taxation were a matter for the pre-budget report or budget. Brown said more transparency was needed about oil reserves to lower instability and speculation in markets.