(AFP, TRIPOLI) - Libya and Venezuela declared Sunday they want a concerted decision at the heart of OPEC on any increase in production, the official Libyan news agency JANA reported after a short visit to Tripoli by Venezuelan Oil Minister Ali Rodriguez, who is current OPEC president.
"The situation" on the crude market was at the center of talks between Rodriguez and the director of the national oil company Ali al-Badri, JANA said.
The two men agreed that the "fluctuations on the oil market are not down to supply and demand, but the result of daily speculation on the market."
As a result, said the agency, "they are agreed on taking adequate measures in concentration with all the member state of OPEC to stabilize the oil market in line with the June agreement" on an increase in the cartel's output of 708,000 barrels per day.
The president of OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) left Tripoli and is still to visit Nigeria as part of his tour of member countries aimed at studying the situation on the market and the level of supply.
He has already been to Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer, said July 3 it was ready to increase production by 500,000 barrels per day.
But the idea of a hike in output does not seem to have universal approval within OPEC. Rodriguez said Friday that there would not be an extraordinary meeting of the cartel, despite an announcement by a Kuwaiti official that such a meeting would be held Tuesday.
© Agence France-Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
