by TRACY MOORE

PRIME MINISTER DAVID THOMPSON will soon be making a statement on the oil price crisis, following up on his televised presentation to the public last month.

This is according to Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office with special responsibility for Energy, Senator Darcy Boyce, in an interview with the WEEKEND NATION this week.

He was responding to speculation that crude oil prices could reach an unprecedented US$150 to US$200 a barrel before yearend.

Light crude oil for June delivery fell 86 cents to US$125.10 per barrel in the United States after settling at a record US$125.96 per barrel on Friday. It was trading around US$125 yesterday.

However, Boyce explained that Government was looking at the prospect that the price could rise as high as US$150 to US$200 per barrel, and would be discussing it in Cabinet first, "but the Prime Minister will be making a statement
to follow up from his presentation [last month]".

"I expect that it will be on the Cabinet agenda in another couple weeks or so, on how we will deal with the oil price crisis.

"There would be some means of conservation with a mix of some renewable energy and temporary provisions to protect the vulnerable," he said.

Government also planned to lead by example with a conservation programme, Boyce added.

"In the Estimates, Government will not approve any vehicles that do not meet the strict specifications set up in the Ministry of Energy.

"We have started there and the cars [used by Government departments] are out there already with those specifications and any and all new cars will have to come down to the standards set by the Ministry of Energy.

"Other work from our conservation programme has already started for this year and we expect to be very [energy] conservative this year," Boyce said.

* tracymoore@nationnews.com