Brussels, 16/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is "concerned" with a possible fall in oil production that had been decided on Friday in Vienna by the OPEC countries, indicated Gilles Gantelet, spokesperson for the Energy Commissioner. We are not certain that this is the right time to do so and that the reasons are sufficient, he added. The producer countries should decide over a further reduction in production, estimated at 500,000 to 1.5 million barrel per day, in order to increase the price of oil. The problem is that the fall in production prevents the consumer countries from rebuilding their stocks, which feeds speculation: the barrel rose to USD 26 with the announcement of the OPEC decision, added the spokesperson. He felt that this situation shows, once more, the good timing of the proposals that the Commission intends to present in his Communication on transports and in its Communication on the energy savings for the Gothenburg Summit. As for OPEC, it refused to connect the price of oil with inflationary dangers in the consumer countries (see following story), and the slowdown in the United States economy.