8 Jun 2006

Pacific leaders call for a regional fuel plan

11:19 am on 8 June 2006

Politicians from a dozen Pacific island states and territories have called for a regional fuel plan to reduce the hardship caused by rising oil prices.

A meeting in the Northern Marianas of leaders from 12 mostly US-affiliated states and territories was told that a regional plan could reduce the price of fuel.

Pacific Island states have little bargaining power against the major oil companies and this combined with their physical isolation mean they pay some of the highest fuel prices in the world.

As well as relying on oil for transport, most islands have to use diesel to generate electricity, making them more vulnerable than most to the more than doubling of world oil prices in the past three years.