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London: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Sunday for international pressure on the Organisation of Petro-leum Exporting Countries to bring oil prices down.
"Clearly oil prices are very high. Clearly also there needs to be some international effort with Opec to get the oil price down," he told Sky News.
Brown also said it was a matter for finance minister Alistair Darling whether a two pence a litre fuel duty rise that has been postponed from April to October could be delayed further. The Observer newspaper quoted sources in Brown's office yesterday as hinting that the October rise may not go ahead.
Brown's comments on Opec were among the strongest he has made on the need for action by oil producers to reduce crude prices, which have fallen back slightly after hitting a record near $120 a barrel last month. Brown sees the high cost of petrol and energy as one of the reasons for voter dissatisfaction with his government which led to Brown's Labour Party suffering its worst local election defeat on record last Thursday. Brown said it was not absolutely clear why the oil price had remained stubbornly high and was rising.
Demand for oil was lower because of lower growth in Europe and the US and lower growth in China than had been predicted at the start of the year, he said.
"So we've got to look very carefully at what is happening in Opec and in oil prices and I think there is a strong case for putting pressure to see if we can get oil prices down," he said.
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