EC WATCHING GULF WAR DEVELOPMENTS
The European Community (EC) should
watch very carefully for any developments in the Gulf War and
their consequences on the oil market, EC Energy Commissioner
Nicolas Mosar said today.
    Speaking two weeks after a U.S. warship was attacked in the
Gulf, Mosar warned, "An escalation in the Gulf would increase
tensions in the oil market."
    "But I do not want to be alarmist," he told a news conference
after an EC energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
    He said the volume of EC oil imports from the Gulf had
declined to around 31 pct of total oil imports in the first
three months of 1987 against 35 pct in the same period last
year. "There are also other potential sources of supplies in the
world," he added.
    The issue of Gulf oil imports was not discussed at the
ministers' meeting, he added.
    A EC committee of national experts in the so-called oil
supply group would discuss Gulf oil supplies at their bi-annual
meeting on June 19, he said.
    But any major decisions would have to be reserved for EC
foreign ministers, diplomats said.
    West European nations have so far shown little enthusiasm
for backing a U.S. plan to give military protection to merchant
ships in the Gulf which could help insure the safety of oil
supplies.
 Reuter
