Chavez Says Crude Price
To Stabilize at $100
Barrel
The price of crude oil
should be stabilized at
100 U.S. dollars per
barrel, visiting
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez while
visiting Portugal, said
Thursday.
After meeting with
Portuguese President
Anibal Cavaco Silva,
Chavez said it was
necessary to find a
"degree of
stabilization" for oil
prices.
"If it stabilizes at
us$100 dollars per
barrel, I think is
right," he said.
Venezuela, a member of
the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), does
not want a higher price
than that, he added.
One barrel of crude oil
cost only us$7 dollars
when he first came into
office 10 years ago,
Chavez pointed out.
Speculation is one of
the factors causing oil
prices to go up as far
as us$147 dollars, he
said, but the market
"has been seeking to
stabilize the price
level" in recent days.
Crude oil was traded at
some us$125 dollars per
barrel Thursday, as harp
drop from a record
us$147.27 dollars on
July 11.
Chavez arrived in
Portugal Wednesday as
part of his European
tour, after visits to
Russia and Belarus. He
will next travel to
Spain.
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