The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union (EU) have agreed to form a team to study joint petroleum production projects, the Kuwait News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The agreement was the outcome of intensive talks of the 3rdGulf-European Oil and Gas Technologies Conference which concluded here Tuesday, a Kuwaiti energy official was quoted as saying. The agreed-upon team consists of 12 specialists and officials representing different petroleum production phases, which will hold its first meeting by the end of the first quarter in 2006,said the official.

According to the official, the two sides also agreed to modernize production technologies in different production phases, which would increase production and enhance the performances of oil fields.

He asserted the results of the Gulf-European Oil and Gas Technologies Conference, the setup of the team in particular, would help eliminate any European fears concerning lack of petroleum supplies.

Implementing this agreement would also help on stabilizing petroleum prices and making them more reasonable for both suppliers and consumers, added the official.

The two-day conference was inaugurated on Monday by Kuwaiti Minister of Energy Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, during which the two sides discussed technological cooperation between them as well as ways of overcoming any obstacles concerning public health and safety and the environment.

The GCC, a regional political and economic alliance established in 1981, groups Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)