Energy minister calls for broader energy cooperation at G8 meet

MOSCOW, March 16. Russia's fuel and energy minister Thursday called for broader international energy cooperation, including in the high-tech sector.

Addressing his G8 counterparts at a meeting in Moscow, Viktor Khristenko said: "There is a need for collective efforts to broaden and invest in activities to prospect for new hydrocarbon deposits on land and offshore, and to raise the efficiency of oil and natural-gas production and processing with the use of new technologies and vehicles for the delivery of energy resources to consumers."

Khristenko said global energy consumption would increase in the 21st century mainly due to emerging markets.

"This will entail additional development of the global energy industry's resource base," he said.

He said fossil fuels account for more than 80% of the world's energy reserves, and would remain the mainstay of global energy for the next half-century, despite increased use of alternative energy sources.

Khristenko said fossil-fuel demand now exceeds supplies, mainly due to disproportionate global distribution of production and consumption, as well as to underdeveloped transportation infrastructure and the rise of emerging markets with huge appetites for energy.

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