G7 calls on OPEC to play key role to ease global energy supplies

G7 calls on OPEC to play key role to ease global energy supplies

OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, has so far rebuffed Western calls for a faster increase in oil production to lower surging prices.

"We call on oil and gas producing countries to act in a responsible manner and to respond to tightening international markets, noting that OPEC has a key role to play," said a communique at the end of the G7 talks.

"We will work with them and all partners to ensure stable and sustainable global energy supplies."

Ministers from the G7 group stressed that they would not let the energy crisis derail efforts to fight climate change.

They announced a commitment on Friday to work to phase out coal-powered energy, although failed to set a date for doing so.

The commitment was weaker than a previous draft of the final communique seen by Reuters, which had included a target to end unabated coal power generation by 2030.

Sources familiar with the discussions said Japan and the United States had both indicated they could not support that date. But the pledge still marked the first commitment from the G7 countries to quit coal-fuelled power. Coal is the most CO2-emitting fossil fuel and use of it needs to plummet if the world is