Group of Seven financial leaders raised pressure on Opec to boost crude oil production and curb near-record prices menacing the world economy as they opened formal talks here Sunday.
The finance ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel a day after the major oil-producing cartel resisted calls for an immediate decision to raise output.
G7 policymakers expect to agree on a joint statement noting the economic risk posed by high oil prices and proposing a stronger dialogue between oil producers and consumers, a G7 source said on condition of anonymity.
The statement, to be released early afternoon, sets the economic agenda for a meeting of leaders of the Group of Eight - the G7 plus Russia - in the southern US state of Georgia from June 8 to 10.
At an informal meeting in Amsterdam on Saturday, oil ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries had postponed any concrete decision on raising output until their next meeting in Beirut June 3.
Opec ministers were "deeply concerned" about the oil price, cartel president Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the Indonesian Energy Minister, told reporters in Amsterdam.
But they refused to cast formal support to a proposal by Saudi Arabia, made public on Friday, to boost Opec output by more than two million barrels per day.
"The decision will be made in Beirut," Yusgiantoro said.
Industrialised powers pushed Opec to act quickly.
"We have to wait, hopefully they will be able to increase production in the pipeline down the road," said Irish finance minister Charlie McCreevy, representing the European Union at the meeting.
"I think they are having another meeting in the very near future and maybe something more positive will come at that particular stage," McCreevy told reporters as he entered the G7 discussions.
Asked if Opec should raise production, he said: "Of course."
Joaquin Almunia, the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, also speaking on the way into the G7 talks, said he hoped the Opec members would agree to raise production in June.
In any case, oil kingpin Saudi Arabia's proposal should help soothe the energy markets, Almunia told reporters.
"We hope that this will help to calm the markets and lead to prices more in line with the needs of growth and control of inflation," he said.
Saudi Arabia's statement had chilled the market Friday but it was unclear how Opec's reaction would affect trade Monday.
New York's benchmark contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, fell 87 cents to close at 39.93 dollars Friday. Brent North Sea crude oil for July delivery fell 75 cents to 36.51 dollars per barrel.
The searing oil market is a headache for drivers world-wide paying record prices for gasoline.
In Europe, where economic growth trails much of the industrialised world, policymakers fear high oil prices will complicate efforts to catch up.
The oil price is also a political liability for US President George W. Bush ahead of November 2 presidential elections. Bush, who has close ties to the US oil sector, said he was taking action on behalf of American consumers.
"This weekend in Amsterdam, (Energy) Secretary Spence Abraham is meeting with petroleum producers from around the world on actions they can take to help the US and global economy," Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday.
"To protect consumers against high (gasoline) prices, the Department of Energy has established a hotline to gather complaints of price gouging," he said.
But Opec suggested it was powerless to cool the world oil market alone. High prices were a result of several factors, "principal among them are gasoline bottlenecks ... and increased tensions in some regions of the world," the Opec president said in Amsterdam.
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