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OSAKA: Top world finance officials called Saturday for an urgent boost to global oil production and a probe into the recent wild swings in energy prices, including the role of speculators.
Finance ministers from the Group of Eight industrialised nations gathering here are worried that soaring oil and food costs could threaten global economic growth and stoke inflation.
"We urge all (oil) producing countries to increase production and to invest to enhance refinery capacity," they said in a joint statement, according to a G8 source who asked not to be named.
They said greater transparency in the oil market and more reliable data were needed, including on "the size of financial flow coming into the oil market."
The G8 called for an investigation involving the International Monetary Fund into the recent spike in crude oil prices.
The ministers asked the IMF and the International Energy Agency "to work together with appropriate national authorities in carrying out further analysis of real and financial factors behind the recent surge in oil prices and volatility, and the effects on the global economy."
World oil prices have been on a rollercoaster ride recently, soaring close to 140 US dollars a barrel on worries about tight supplies, with some blaming market speculators for aggravating the wild swings.
Oil prices have soared five-fold since 2003 due to a variety of factors, including turbulence in the Middle East and rising demand in emerging economies such as China and India. - AFP/ac
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