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IEA invites China

31 March 2010 12:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. China has been called on to join the International Energy Agency, said the head of the developed world’s energy policy advisory body.

’In many ways they (the Chinese) are already working closely with us. But eventually we wish they would join us,’ IEA chief Nubuo Tanaka told.

Part of the OECD network, the IEA offers advice on energy policy to developed nations including Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States, who account for most of global economic output.

’Our relevance is under question because half of the energy consumption already is in non-Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries. And for oil it is soon coming that the majority of consumption is happening in non-OECD countries,’ Tanaka said, according to the report.

The IEA executive director was in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun for the biennial International Energy Forum (IEF), where two days of talks have centered on the future for fossil fuels amid increasing use of renewable energy sources. Earlier this month the IEA reported that China is experiencing ’astonishing’ growth in oil demand this year to match its economic rise, while the agency also warned consumption in developed economies was falling.

China’s demand surged in January by 28 per cent on a 12-month comparison and raised its forecast for global demand in 2010 to 86.6 million barrels per day (mbd) from its projection last month of 86.5 mbd. That forecast was 1.8 per cent higher than 2009 demand levels. -- AFP