Eni SpA (E) has urged the world's oil consumers and producers to set up a global energy agency to limit wide crude price swings that lead to "boom-and-bust" investment cycles, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said Monday.
"We presented today at the meeting a blueprint that proposes setting up a global energy agency with the aim of stabilizing prices," the Eni CEO said at a press conference in Rome after participating earlier Monday in a Group of Eight leading nations meeting focusing on energy.
Eni's proposal includes setting up a mechanism that offers incentives for investments that boost capacity, creating a global stabilization fund that could be tapped into by producing countries when oil prices drop below a specified level, and global coordination to manage crude and refined products stockpiles.
"This [proposal] is a step forward and there was a lot of interest [at the meeting]," Scaroni told reporters, adding that national oil companies were especially interested.
Scaroni also confirmed Eni was planning to keep its 2009 investments stable, and he said about $70 a barrel could be a fair price for both oil producers and consumers.