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.

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.

OPEC expects increase in demand following proposed production cut. Crude oil demand declined following global financial crisis and fears of recession. Next meeting of oil exporting countries would be held on March 15, 2009 in Vienna.

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).

The GSPC is aiming to get the plant ready by 2013 at a cost of Rs3,000-3,500 crore. This has become possible as there had been sharp falls in prices of metals such as steel and nickel.

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.

Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) continued to rise Friday, ahead of a meeting of the cartel on December 17, at which production cuts are expected to be discussed.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at 41.32 dollars Friday, 1.20 dollars higher than on the previous day, the Vienna-based organization announced Monday.

OPEC president Chakib Khelil last week called for a "drastic cut" of oil production, ahead of the meeting of oil ministers in Oran, Algeria on Wednesday.

Amman - Engineers working for the Iraqi Electricity Ministry will start receiving their training from Jordan's National Electricity Co (NEC), the company announced Sunday.

Under the agreement, the NEC agrees with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to train the Iraqi engineers, NEC Director General Ahmad Hiyasat said.

"The agreement, which goes into effect early in 2009, provides for training Iraqi cadres to set up a system for the maintenance of power stations, transport lines and transformation stations," Hiyasat said.