London - A British minister Friday called for further action to safeguard the stability of oil prices despite the current decline of the price for crude oil in the face of global recession.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who was Friday due to host a meeting of oil ministers from 40 countries in London, made his appeal just days after a cut in oil production announced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The London meeting was originally planned during the summer when the oil price surged to more than 140 dollars a barrel.
But Miliband told the Financial Times that it was still important to continue the dialogue between oil producer and consumer nations begun last June in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The Union Government would start auctioning over 100 prospective areas for oil and gas exploration fields through an international bidding. The new fields would be allotted as per the eighth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp-VIII) by the end of March 2009. 
Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the
Concerned over declining crude oil prices in the international market, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced to cut production by 2.2 million barrels a day from January 1. Meanwhile, crude prices touched four year low at $40.06 a barrel in the market. Crude prices were $39.44 a barrel on July 13, 2004 and touched peak level of $147 a barrel in July.
Following a year after a slump in prices of metals used in construction, State-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) has raised the capacity of its planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal by 30% to 6.5 million tonnes (mt). 
OVL is eying to save $1 billion by picking just 51 per cent stake in Imperial Energy. The decision is taken after many deliberations as the deal is not much attractive due to the steep decline in crude oil rates in the international market. However, the government gave its nod to the proposed acquisition on the grounds of energy security. 
