IEA concerned about oil project delays -Tanaka

LONDON (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) is concerned about potential delays to upstream oil projects as a result of the recent sharp fall in crude prices, its head said on Tuesday.

International benchmark U.S. crude prices have fallen sharply to below $65 a barrel from the peak above $147 struck in July, due mainly to a drop in demand amid economic slowdown caused by the financial crisis.


Oil industry officials and analysts have said the low price may clog investments in upstream projects needed to maintain world supplies.

“Discussion that price of oil should be high enough and there will not be incentives to sustain upstream investment … if the price of oil is too low? Yes, we are concerned about it,” IEA’s head Nobuo Tanaka told Reuters at a sidelines of a conference in London.

“We have seen this financial crisis. The supply side, as well as the demand side, has been hit badly by the financial crisis.”

Reuters