Leaders of the oil world gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the third OPEC summit, in November.
Top of the agenda appears to have been issues of the environment. Saudi Arabia announced it will give US $300 million for research into helping the environment by lowering emissions. The announcement came in a speech from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
This commitment reiterates OPEC’s position of promoting efficient and cleaner use of hydrocarbon resources and was discussed in forums leading up to the summit. Statements released by the organisation indicated it “shares the international community’s concern that climate change is a long-term challenge”.
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OPEC’s Secretary General, Abdalla El-Badri, has in the past been clearer about what is required.
“I would like to see far more research being carried out, aimed at mitigating the presence of CO2 found in fossil fuels as a whole,” he said.
“Such a development would be beneficial for both the oil industry and the world at large. There are adequate reserves to last for the foreseeable future, which justify this kind of research, the efforts and the money.”
The subject of the ailing US dollar also made the headlines as attendees Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made damning comments about the state of the currency and the resulting oil price.
According to reports from Reuters part of a session was mistakenly broadcast live to reporters. In it Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said: “My fear is that any mention that OPEC makes of studying the issue of the dollar, will in itself have an impact.”
The consistently high price and spike over recent months has seen consumer nations pressure OPEC to pump more oil. In response OPEC ministers have said there is little they can do, due to factors beyond their control. The organisation deferred any decision about increasing output to its meeting in Abu Dhabi in early December.
