RTRS: UPDATE 1-IEA moves to calm oil markets, says no emergency
* Says OPEC, IEA should act only if see disruption
* Says Suez canal closure would not lead to oil shortage
PARIS, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The global oil market does not face any emergency, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, a day after oil prices breached through $100 per barrel on unrest in Egypt. "It is not an emergency now," Nobuo Tanaka told Reuters.
"If a disruption happens, we should act," he added, referring to both IEA and the oil producing group OPEC.
Oil prices have spiked due to tension in Egypt.
Brent crude LCOc1 hit $100 per barrel for the first time since 2008 on fears instability could spread through the Middle East, which together with North Africa pumps over a third of the world's oil. [O/R]
OPEC says it holds about 6 million barrels per day (bpd) of idle production capacity -- equal to 7 percent of world demand -- that it could tap to fill any shortage. Most of this capacity is held by Saudi Arabia.
Both Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and OPEC's Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri signalled on Monday OPEC had no plans to call a meeting before its next planned gathering in June as markets were well supplied. [ID:nLDE70U0OS]
The IEA and OPEC have repeatedly differed about demand and production levels with OPEC attacking the West for raising fuel taxes and then asking producers for more crude.
"What we are asking OPEC is to be flexible," said Tanaka.
"The next OPEC meeting is in June. The Saudis are certainly producing more than they say. I have heard they are meeting in Riyadh. But I cannot prejudge anything right now," he said.
Badri said the meeting of producers and consumers in Riyadh on February 22 was very unlikely to decide on production quotas as it was not an extraordinary meeting of OPEC.
Tanaka also said the Suez canal and the Sumed pipeline were operating normally and added that even if the Suez canal closed due to unrest in Egypt, it would not create a physical shortage in the market but only boost shipping costs due to longer journeys.
(Reporting by Muriel Boselli, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, editing by William Hardy)
