WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Finance ministers from the Group of Seven stand ready to call for assurances the global oil markets are fully supplied, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Oil prices have increased more than 20 percent since June in part because of declining stockpiles and sanctions imposed on Iran, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, reports Bloomberg News.
Rising oil prices have sparked rumors that Western governments may call for a release from strategic petroleum reserves
The G7 industrialized nations, in a joint statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, said it was mindful of the economic risks of high oil prices. The statement said G7 members -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada -- were calling on oil-producing countries to increase output to meet growing demand.
"We stand ready to call upon the International Energy Agency to take appropriate action to ensure that the market is fully and timely supplied," the statement read. "We remain committed to well-functioning and transparent energy markets."
IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven told Bloomberg this week that oil markets are "sufficiently well supplied" and any collective action would be taken only "when we are talking about a serious disruption of supply."
