Eni CEO urges OPEC to act now, warns of oil spike to $200/bbl
* OPEC should restore oil price stability, Descalzi says
* Oil sector to cut spending by 10-13 pct in 2015 (Adds details, quotes, background)
Oil prices have sunk by almost 60 percent since June to below $50 a barrel due to a large supply glut. The price slide accelerated after the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided in November not to cut production.
However, he said the world should avoid a further massive drop in investment in oil exploration and production as it would create oil shortages in the future, leading to price spikes.
"A lot of our projects are long term to have production in five or six years. And that is a problem. If you are cutting capex (capital expenditure) drastically now – we can have a lack of production in four or five years creating a new increased oil price at $200 maybe," Descalzi said.
"What we need is stability… OPEC is like the central bank for oil which must give stability to the oil prices to be able to invest in a regular way."
The chief executive of French oil major Total echoed Descalzi's warnings earlier on Wednesday.
(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ron Bousso in London; editing by David Evans)