UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he has been assured that Saudi Arabia will increase oil production in an attempt to bring down rising prices.
However, the price of crude oil rocketed to a record high of $139.89 a barrel this afternoon despite the news from Saudi Arabia.
Mr Ban arrived in London late last night after a 24-hour visit to Saudi Arabia during which he was told the OPEC powerhouse would further increase oil output to meet heightened demand.
The UN chief said he had spoken to Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi by telephone, who told him that Riyadh would raise production by 200,000 barrels a day in July in addition to a hike of 300,000 barrels made in June.
He said the minister sought to clarify earlier media reports suggesting that Riyadh could raise output in July by about 500,000 barrels a day to 10m barrels.
But Mr Ban also quoted Mr al-Nuaimi as saying that he felt oil-consuming countries should also play their part to stabilise prices by bringing down national taxes and combating speculators.
The UN Secretary-General said this was why the Saudis were hosting a high-level meeting of oil producers and consumers in Jeddah later this month.
During his visit at the Saudis' invitation, Mr Ban also held talks with King Abdullah, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Crown Prince Sultan Abdul Aziz al-Saud.
He said they shared the concern he expressed about the impact of the skyrocketing oil prices on global food security.
He said he also told them the oil price surge was threatening the ability of the least developed countries to achieve the poverty-reduction Millennium Development Goals and the world’s capacity to deal with the threat of climate change.
