|
Chavez: Oil price at 50-60 USD a
barrel "appropriate"
Venezuela would cut oil
production to halt falling crude
prices, said President Hugo
Chavez on Friday, adding that 50
to 60 U.S. dollars a barrel was
an appropriate price.
"Venezuela has been the vanguard
over the recovery of oil
prices... today it's above 50
dollars a barrel -- that's an
appropriate price," Chavez told
the country's television.
Venezuela had agreed to cut
production by 50,000 barrels a
day (bpd) as of Oct. 1,
following a request by Nigeria
to do so, said the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) earlier on Friday
Nigeria and Venezuela together
would reduce crude oil supply by
150,000 bpd, officials at OPEC
headquarters in Vienna told
reporters.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael
Ramirez said in a statement that
the cut was "intended to
mitigate the falling oil prices
of recent weeks," and pointed
out that Venezuela's oil basket
had fallen eight dollars a
barrel this month alone.
At the Sept. 11 OPEC meeting,
Ramirez said that the
organization might vote for a
cut at the next conference in
December.
On Friday, Venezuela's
Bolivarian News Agency said that
Venezuela's oil was worth 51.83
dollars a barrel.
Oil prices in Venezuela peaked
above 78 dollars in mid-2006,
but have fallen 20 percent since
then.
|
|
