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Venezuela Warns about $100-a-barrel Oil
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez spoke on Friday in favor of cutting the oil output by OPEC nations from February while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened the United States with the halt of the fuel supply and the rise in oil prices up to $100 a barrel.
The OPEC conference agreed December 12 last year to keep the current oil export quotas at 28 million barrels a day but the December 31 conference decided to consider cutting down the quotas from February.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez stated on Friday that his country supports cuts in quotas. President Hugo Chavez hinted that the drop could be used as an oil tool against the United States as oil prices will soar. President Chavez accused the Americans of persistent efforts to “topple” hi” and threatened to suspend oil supplies to the U.S. market. “We send them 1.5 million barrel each day. What will happen if I announce tomorrow that not a single tanker will reach the United States? How high will the barrel price skyrocket? Up to $100, I guess but war is war,” Hugo Chavez said.
Venezuela does not disclose the actual volume of the national oil output and export so the authorities’ intention to cut, or even halt, exports can be called hard to check and only theoretical.
Sergey Minaev
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 16, 2006
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