MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OPEC targets “reasonable” price: 40/50 dollars pb

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez currently visiting India said that OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Oil Exporting Countries) could decide to establish the crude price band between 40 and 50 US dollars per barrel, adding that “the days of cheap oil are over”.

Next March 16, OPEC will be holding a crucial meeting in Iran when some analysts believe the oil cartel could agree to cut production to keep prices at their current 45/50 US dollars per barrel level.

Venezuela the world's fifth oil exporter with a daily production of 3 million barrels is one of the cartel's members that has most pushed for keeping prices high.

"The era of cheap petroleum is over", insisted Mr. Chavez in New Delhi adding that "OPEC could decide to establish the price band between 40 and 50 US dollars per barrel". "The world has to forget about cheap oil, never again will we have oil at ten US dollars per barrel" insisted Mr. Chavez who did not give further details of the coming OPEC summit or how the strong prices would be supported.

President Chavez added that the current rise in oil prices has "nothing to do with OPEC; it's the market's structure and we are assessing market circumstances".

Freezing winter in the northern hemisphere, refineries disruptions in the US and the event of a supply crisis in the coming months helped oil surge to the 55 US dollars benchmark.

Oil prices are currently 52% above March 2004 and OPEC's president Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Saba said over the weekend that the "market is well supplied", but there's concern about the current surge in oil prices.

"And this in spite of the fact the market is well supplied, global reserves continue to increase and currently stand above the average of the last five years".

"We are interested in market stability at a reasonable price" stressed OPEC' president.