France will submit plans to world leaders at the G8 summit in July to try to end oil price volatility, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday during a visit to the energy-rich United Arab Emirates.
"We have to work together to fight oil price volatility. The volatility of oil prices is not in anyone's interests," Sarkozy said in a speech in the U.A.E. capital Abu Dhabi.
"Why not devise a deal between producers and consumers to present to the market over the general price direction... a price range that encourages investment but does not shackle the consuming economies," Sarkozy said.
Oil prices have swung wildly, slumping from a peak of $147 a barrel in July to about $32 in December as demand for the fuel slumped due to the global economic downturn.
This year, prices have risen gradually and Tuesday they were trading at around $60 a barrel.
Sarkozy's comments came just two days ahead of an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna Thursday, although OPEC is not expected to make any cuts in output there.
The organization, which pumps some 40% of the world's oil supply, has steadily reduced production since late last year in a bid to support prices.
"We still believe that a fair price is $75 and perhaps $80 a barrel, especially now," King Abdullah of OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia said in remarks published in a Kuwaiti newspaper Tuesday.
King Abdullah - whose country is the world's top oil exporter - also said that prices would eventually stabilize at a higher range when the world economy recovers.
"The issue of fluctuating prices is governed by developments and conditions of the world markets. These are bound to stabilize at a higher price for oil in the future," he said.
Sarkozy said the French proposals would be presented to the G8 when the club of rich nations - which groups France with the U.K., Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the U.S. - holds its next summit in Italy from July 8 to 10.