October 24, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba'an 6, 1422

CARACAS, Oct 23: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya and Algeria have backed a Venezuelan proposal to cut Opec oil production if necessary, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in a taped message broadcast in Caracas on Monday.

If necessary, we will make a fresh cut in oil production, said Chavez, speaking from Tehran which he visited at the weekend.

We are ready to do it, so is Saudi Arabia, so is Iran and Algeria and Libya, too.

The Venezuelan leader said he was sure all Opec members would sign up to a cut in production in order to prop up sliding oil prices.

But we’re putting details to the plan, moving towards taking decisions, Chavez added.

This is a fundamental element to recover stability in the market because consumption has fallen and at the same time, there is an oversupply of approximately 1 million barrels per day (bpd), the Venzuelan leader said in his pre-recorded statement broadcast by state television in Caracas.

VIENNA: Experts from Opec and non-Opec countries will meet in Vienna next week to discuss cooperation on boosting slumping oil prices, an official said on Tuesday.

Representatives from the 11 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) countries will meet on Monday with experts from six non-Opec states, to formulate recommendations to an Opec ministerial meeting next month.

We don’t expect any decisions, said the official. They should be discussing compliance with production quotas, and trying to garner some support for our own policy of maintaining a certain level of production.

They will submit recommendations to the conference next month, he said, referring to a scheduled November 14 ministerial meeting in Vienna.

Oil prices have dropped more than 20 per cent to around $21 a barrel since last month’s terrorist attacks on the United States as fears of a worldwide economic contraction suddenly increased.

Some Opec members have floated the idea of cutting output to push prices higher, but non-Opec oil producers such as Norway and Russia have shown little enthusiam for such an initiative.

The non-Opec countries expected to participate in Monday’s one-day meeting are Russia, Mexico, Oman, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Angola, said the official.

Opec sources meanwhile downplayed the significance of comments by Russian Oil Minister Igor Yusufov who said this week that Moscow has no immediate plans to cut its oil production despite a sharp slump in world prices.

I think they want to make some headlines, but ultimately they would have to come along and agree with us that they have to cut production, because they’re going to be hard hit in the long run, said one insider.

They have to cooperate with Opec. They should not expect us to take all the blame and all the losses, he said.—Reuters/AFP