MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Oil prices bullish

OPEC countries will not increase oil production until industrialised countries begin acting to reduce the price of energy at the pump level, said Alí Rodríguez Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.

In an interview with a Japanese newspaper Mr. Rodríguez said the latest OPEC half a million barrels production increase effective October 31st., could be "useless" unless there's a concerted effort from industrialised countries.

"European taxes on oil are far off, United States doesn't have sufficient refining capacity and speculation has taken over the futures market", underlined Mr. Rodríguez adding that a more "responsible attitude" from these countries is required.

Mr. Rodríguez predicted that although a further production increase is forecasted for the end of November, to help with coming winter demand, it will depend of an OPEC meeting in Vienna. "If we consider the increase will have no effect, and we see no concerted effort, we might turn back", indicated Mr. Rodríguez.

However, Caribbean countries and Cuba should be able to cope: following an official one week visit to Venezuela by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez announced a daily supply at "reasonable" prices of several tens of thousands of barrels to his new oil short friends.