ROME (AFP) - Oil-consuming countries and international oil producers acknowledged Sunday they can no longer influence oil prices, as a global gathering of the energy elite got underway in Rome.

“In the 1970s, international oil companies (IOCs) controlled nearly 75 percent of global oil reserves and 80 percent of oil production,” said Paolo Scaroni, head of Italian petroleum group Eni.

“Now, IOCs control only six percent of oil and 20 percent of gas reserves, and 24 percent of oil and 35 percent of gas production. The rest is in the hands of national oil companies.”

With crude futures crossing 117 dollars per barrel in New York on Friday, producer countries such as Venezuela or Russia have less and less need of the old “majors” to help them develop their untapped reserves.

“This doesn’t mean IOCs have completely lost their role and are set to disappear,” added Scaroni, whose apology for pulling out of Qatar in 2002 offered the perfect symbol of a profound shift in the balance of oil power.

“But it does mean that they need to profoundly rethink thier business model in order to survive and prosper in the new oil and gas landscape.”

In his opinion, firmly shared by Royal Dutch Shell head Jeroen van der Veer, companies need to maximise “technological know-how” and concentrate on the management of complex projects in “difficult” waters and terrain, such as in Venezuela or Canada.

But Scaroni nevertheless stated that the brands which once symbolised oil at the fuel pumps are “caught between a rock and a hard place”.

“They have to respond to financial markets, which ask for immediate or short term results and returns,” he said.

“Meanwhile, they inhabit the world of oil projects which — by their nature — have long-term time-spans.”

The boss of another Italian company Enel, Fulvio Conti, raised his head above the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) parapet to call for “a clear signal of long term pricing” to investors who “favour marginal fields development and downstream increased capacity”.

He said that, in turn, “would lower volatility for primary energy”.

It would seem highly unlikely, however, to translate into lower prices at the pumps, with French company Total’s head Christophe de Margerie saying a “minimum” of 60-70 dollars per barrel is required just to cover development costs.

Calls for OPEC to raise output were distinctly muted, even if the deputy head of the International Energy Agency — founded during the 1973-4 oil crisis to defend the energy interests of 27 major consumer countries — said it was “unreasonable” for the 12 members of OPEC’s cartel to “fix demand for the next 30 years”.

Both Kuwait and Qatar’s oil ministers underlined OPEC’s common position that there are ample reserves of fuel available at the world’s pumps.