24 May, 2004 - Published 13:12 GMT

OPEC under pressure to cut oil prices

Finance ministers from the industrial countries are turning up the political pressure on OPEC, calling on the cartel to raise production to bring prices down, when it holds a formal meeting in just under two weeks.

At that meeting in Beirut it will decide whether to go along with Saudi Arabia's intention of raising output. Much turns on the decision. Oil prices are not as high in real terms now as they were after the Yom Kippur war thirty years ago, or later wars in the Middle East, when high oil prices caused global recessions.

All the same, finance ministers in the oil consuming countries say the recent rise in oil prices has caused difficulty. Firstly, high fuel prices are invariably politically painful. Britain has suffered protests by motorists in the past. Americans are complaining about gas at the pumps above two dollars a gallon.

Higher oil prices also act like a tax on economies, slowing growth and perhaps rekindling inflation.

Steven Evans, BBC, New York

turning up the political pressure
increasing the political pressure

OPEC
(Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) - organisation of 11 oil-producing states, producing about 40% of the world’s oil

cartel
agreement between businesses to control production and prices

go along with
agree with

intention
plan

Much turns on the decision
The decision could affect many things

in real terms
according to today’s cost of living

All the same
In spite of that

motorists
car drivers

rekindling
If you rekindle something, you start it again