Oil over $100 in '11 may trigger '08 repeat: IEA

RIYADH (Reuters) - Sustained oil prices over $100 per barrel for the rest of the year could tip the global economy back into a repeat of the 2008 economic crisis, the IEA's Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said on Tuesday.

The prospect of further disruption to oil supplies from Libya, OPEC member and Africa's third-largest producer, has already sent oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high above $108 per barrel.

"We are very much concerned about the situation, it's a risk to the stable supply of oil," Tanaka told Reuters at the International Energy Forum.

Energy ministers are in the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks designed to narrow the gap between producer and consumer nations, but the turmoil in Libya has overshadowed the event, forcing ministers to send messages of reassurance to the market.

"If $100 continues through 2011, we call it the oil burden, this will create the same level of crisis as in 2008," Tanaka added, but also sought to reassure the market, saying, "Our message to the market is don't panic. OPEC has spare capacity of 5 million barrels (per day) unlike 2008 when it was only 2 million barrels."

Protest against the four-decade rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi broke assumptions this week that the country's oil wealth would be enough to contain unrest and it has already affected oil output, the first since popular unrest erupted in Tunisia, ousting its president, before spreading to Egypt and unseating Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of rule.

"We are very much concerned about the situation, it's a risk to the stable supply of oil," Tanaka said, speaking of the situation in the Middle East.

"Al-Naimi also confirmed to me that Saudi will take action if there are disruptions," Tanaka added, referring to Saudi oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.