FINANCE Ministers from the Group of Seven leading economies stepped up pressure yesterday on the Opec oil cartel to boost production and help to curb soaring fuel prices.

After Saudi Arabia pledged on Friday to raise its output by 500,000 barrels a day or more and called for a 2.5 million barrel increase in Opec’s overall daily production, the G7 ministers urged other members of the cartel to move quickly to follow the Saudi lead.

In a communiqué issued after the talks here, the G7 sounded a warning that high oil prices would endanger the global economy and called for all of the world’s main crude producers to increase output. “Risks to the outlook remain,” the communiqué said. “Lower oil prices would benefit the world economy.”

It added: “We welcome the recent announcements by some oil producers to increase production. We now call on all oil producers to provide adequate supplies to ensure that world oil prices return to levels consistent with lasting global economic prosperity and stability, in particular for the poorest developing countries.”

The further attempt by the West’s big economies to cajole Opec into action to rein in surging crude prices came after dissent within the cartel over the Saudi proposals emerged during an informal gathering of its leaders in Amsterdam on Saturday.

It had been hoped that the Opec meeting might lead to an immediate decision to raise the cartel’s production quota to force prices back down from the record highs above $40 a barrel reached this month.

Although Opec said it wanted to curb prices, it deferred a decision until a ministerial meeting in Beirut on June 3, with some members, including Venezuela and Libya, expressing dismay over Saudi Arabia’s unilateral commitment to boost production.

Opposition from within the cartel could yet dash the Saudi effort. “They can’t. It’s a mistake. Saudi Arabia can’t decide alone to increase production,” Fethi bin Chetwane, the Libyan Oil Minister, said.

Gordon Brown said, however, he hoped that the Saudi pledge had paved the way for higher output after the Beirut meeting. “I believe the action by Saudi Arabia is important,” he said here. “That will add pressure on the other Opec countries to do the right thing.”

Mr Brown said he was optimistic that the Saudi lead would be followed. “I think Opec do accept themselves that the sustainable price for oil is $22 to $28 a barrel, and I think they do therefore recognise there is a need for production targets to be increased.”

Officials at the G7 talks were hopeful that a rise in Opec output was now clearly in prospect and that this would trigger a fall back in crude costs.

Oil analysts, however, questioned whether any likely Opec action will suffice to cut prices.Jan Randolph, of the World Market Research Centre, in London, said: “Opec is likely to increase quotas but that is unlikely to have a major impact on oil prices. The problems stem largely from security concerns in Iraq, extremely high demand growth this year and low US gasoline inventories.”

HELPING HAND

Extra funding to extend the debt relief programme for the world’s poorest nations should be forthcoming, after G7 ministers called for its “full implementation” and ordered fresh efforts to bolster the initiative. Gordon Brown welcomed the G7 agreement. A “sunset clause”, in the highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) programme to provide $70 billion of relief, meant that it was about to expire without some key eligible countries, including conflict-hit states such as Sudan, being able to benefit. There is also concern that the present levels of debt relief are insufficient.