OPEC rejects calls for output hike; plans environment fund

19 November 2007

OPEC, which currently meets more than 40 per cent of the world''s oil needs, is set to launch an environmental fund to bring together producers and consumers in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, senior officials in the organisation said. 

OPEC plans to issue a statement calling on rich countries to develop carbon storage and sequestration, a nascent technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, when the summit of the oil producers'' bloc ends on November 18.

The launch of a fund for research into carbon capture and storage technology was mooted by Adnan Shihab-Eldin, former acting secretary general for OPEC, during a seminar assessing possible responses to the environmental impact of rising oil consumption.

The third OPEC summit at its conclusion tomorrow is likely to announce the fund, which will have contributions from energy consuming countries and oil producers, to provide technological support for reduction of the environmental impact of fuel use, OPEC officials said.

The plan was actively backed by Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Shihab-Eldin mooted the idea of a multi-billion dollar scheme, with any OPEC contribution matched by large industrial countries and developing nations, on the sidelines of the conference.