CAIRO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said on the sidelines of an international energy forum in Qatar on Monday that record oil prices were causing great dislocations in both the United States and the rest of the world, according to reports reaching here.

    Bodman said at a news conference held in the Qatari capital Doha that soaring oil prices- which reached 75 U.S. dollars a barrel last week, the highest in real term for 25 years- were "causing great dislocations" and "very painful" around the world", which was "certainly true of my country."

    The U.S. energy secretary also urged oil-producing countries to help keep the markets well supplied.

    "We have encouraged producing nations to keep oil markets well supplied - I think they've done that. I would encourage them to do more if they can," he added. "We are in a situation where supply is roughly equal to demand today."

    The U.S. is the top oil consumer, using a quarter of the world's oil and over 40 percent of its gasoline.

    Oil ministers of the 11 member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are expected to hold informal talks in Doha later in the day over record oil prices which rouse international concerns.

    But the ministers have already said that the oil cartel will not make new decisions over the production since the global oil supply is currently balanced with the demand and that OPEC, trying its best to meet the demand of the international market, is not responsible for the recent oil price hike.

    The OPEC, pumping about 40 percent of the world crude oil, currently maintains an output quota of 28 million barrels a day, almost at its full production capacity.

    Representatives of scores of countries worldwide and a bunch of leading global energy companies attended the energy forum which kicked off in Doha on Saturday and will end on Monday to tackle ways to deal with high oil prices. Enditem