OPEC will decide in March whether to cut production, said Alvaro Silva Calderon Venezuela's minister of Energy and Mines.
Silva said that an output cut is "not pre-established" ahead of the OPEC ministers' next meeting in March. He also said at a speech here at Georgetown University that there is a need to stabilize oil prices and such a price would be between $25 and $30 per barrel extremes.
"We will decide in March whether there will be a cut or not," Silva said. "It's not pre-established." Silva agreed with the assertion made by former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson that there is a need to stabilize prices and added that he saw such a price in a range between $25 and $30 per barrel extremes.
"We have not observed that this range is having any negative effect on world economy," Silva said.
He added that a fair price for oil needs to be discussed between producers and consumers. Silva responded to a question about rumors that the United States would shift oil imports from Venezuela to Mexico because of Venezuela's developing relationship with Cuba by saying that the political dynamics would not affect energy policy.
"This isn't even a remote possibility that we would reduce our supplies to one of our main consumers," said Silva.
He reiterated that the oil price producers receive is much lower than that reported in the media.
One of the reasons oil prices in industrialized countries are high is due to higher taxes on oil within those nations, he said.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
