Libya and Venezuela are agreed on the need to cut the output of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to counter the drop in crude prices, a Libyan official said Tuesday October 15.
The two countries agree on a reduction of "three million barrels per day (bpd) to guarantee stable prices," according to foreign ministry official Hassuna Al-Shaush.
"Oil-producing countries cannot continue to accept falling prices," Shaush said, following a meeting in Tripoli on Sunday night between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Chavez is on a tour which has already taken him to Algeria and during which he is also due to visit Iran and Saudi Arabia. OPEC tasked him with coordinating the positions of the 11 members of the cartel with those of non-member producers, such as Russia or Mexico, to decide whether a cut was necessary in the wake of the anti-US terror attacks and the subsequent slump of the oil market.
Over the past three weeks, the OPEC basket of crudes has been hovering around the 20-dollar-a-barrel mark, two dollars below the limit under which OPEC should theoretically cut output by 500,000 bpd. — (AFP, Tripoli)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
