Bush Mideast oil talk won’t spur OPEC to invest: IEA

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S.
President George W. Bush’s goal to cut dependency on Middle East oil won’t help persuade
OPEC to spend the huge amounts of cash needed to meet future oil demand, the head of the West’s energy watchdog said on Monday.

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, Bush said America was addicted to oil and needed to slash imports from the Middle East by more than 75 percent by 2025.

“We are absolutely delighted that
President Bush has recognized at last that his country is addicted to oil,” International Energy Agency head Claude Mandil told an economics conference in London.

“But the way he said it – to get rid of dependence on Middle East oil – will not help us convince those countries that they will have to increase their investment.”

Reuters