S Korea to call for reducing reliance on oil at Beijing summit

Seoul (Platts)--14Dec2006

South Korea would focus its discussions on the reduction of global
reliance on oil during the upcoming inaugural meeting of the world's top five
oil-consuming nations in China, energy officials said Thursday.
Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Chung Se-Kyun is to leave for
Bejing Friday for the first-ever summit of the world's five biggest
oil-consuming nations to be held December 16. The five-nation meeting will
be also attended by the US, China, Japan, and India.
"Minister Chung will focus his discussions on diversification of energy
resources and energy alternatives sources during the forum," a ministry
official said.
"The energy ministers from the five nations aim to adopt a joint
statement," he said, without elaborating.
Ahead of the Beijing forum, Chung met visiting US Secretary of Energy
Samuel Bodman Wednesday to coordinate their schemes at the oil summit. "Chung
and Bodman discussed joint moves to cope with oil sellers' moves," he said.
The two also discussed clean energy use and environment regulations, the
official said. During his two-day visit, Bodman also met Science and
Technology Minister Kim Woo-Shik to discuss partnership in the nuclear energy
sector. Energy-poor South Korea, the world's fourth largest crude importer, is
vulnerable to rises in oil prices because it imports almost all of its crude
requirements, more than 80% of which come from the volatile Middle East.

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