IEA calls for investment in oil-rich Middle East, North African countries

PARIS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The International Energy Agency (IEA) released Monday a report, warning the world will suffer if oil- rich Middle Eastern and North African countries fail to invest sufficiently in energy production by 2030.

The report said some largest-energy producing states in the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as North African producers such as Algeria, Egypt and Libya would be responsible for 44 percent of world oil production by 2030, against 35 percent at present.

The Paris-based IEA suggested that some Middle East and North African producers "could choose deliberately to develop production capacity more slowly".

It also said that the producers themselves would suffer in the absence of robust investment, since many of them are heavily dependent on revenues from crude oil sales.

Consuming countries on the other hand would press ahead with " vigorous new policy measures" aimed at rationalizing energy use and switching from fossil fuels, the report said, adding stronger action on conservation would mean a fall in oil and gas demand in the main consuming regions, leading to reduced Middle East and North African exports and lower prices.

The IEA pointed out that policies of producing and consuming countries change in response to each other to market developments and to shifts in market power and that there was now a case for improved market transparency and for a better exchange of information between the two groups.