Oil producing countries should increase both their production and exploration capacities to tackle a surge in oil prices, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Saturday.
Speaking after a meeting with oil producing and distributing firms, Lagarde said she wanted the issue discussed at a meeting of EU finance ministers on Monday in Brussels and at a G20 meeting in South Africa at the end of next week.
"We are currently in a market where demand is extremely strong and will remain strong ... and where the supply is stretched," she told a news conference.
Lagarde said she wanted her EU and G20 counterparts to focus "especially on the need for producing countries to increase their exploration and operating capacities."
Lagarde also announced she was doubling the annual fuel allowance given to some 175,000 low-income households to 150 euros ($220) from 75 euros. The chief executive of French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie, told reporters after the meeting that the jump in oil prices served nobody's purpose. He shrugged off suggestions that his company should pay a surplus tax on its oil profits, saying it needed the money for its investment programme.