January 12, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 8, 1423

VIENNA, Jan 11: Strike-bound Venezuela will send a heavyweight delegation to Sunday’s Opec meeting in Vienna to defend its Opec quota despite a drastic output slide, delegates said.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez will be accompanied by the head of the state oil company Ali Rodriguez, a former Opec Secretary-General, at the policy meeting that is expected to lift quotas for the 11-member group by about 1.5 million barrels per day, or seven percent.

“Venezuela is the central issue at this meeting, because of the unusual situation there,” a delegate said.

“Everyone, including Venezuela, will defend their share in the ceiling,” he added.

Opec’s only American member is in the throes of a general strike which has slashed oil output from over three million barrels per day in November to around half a million last week.

Oil prices have spiked sharply, topping $30 per barrel, on the Venezuelan strike and fears of war in Iraq.

Some fellow cartel members could argue that Caracas, because it is unable currently to fill its 2.6 million barrel a day quota, should be written out of any agreement to lift output, dividing the increase between nine remaining members.

Opec’s 11th member Iraq has not had a quota since the Gulf War.

Any such move would face stiff opposition from Venezuela and perhaps Iran whose leadership is close to Caracas.

“I don’t think we can rule Venezuela out of any increase,” said another Opec source.

Iran, like Indonesia, Iraq and Kuwait, will not be represented at ministerial level at the meeting, but is sending its Opec governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Friday, expressing “concern over the rise of Opec production ceiling by some countries,” according to Iran’s official news agency.

The Venezuelan government says it sees oil output recovering to 1.5 million bpd next week, a claim laughed off by strikers who show no sign of backing down. Ramirez is likely to make the case to Opec for that sort of output recovery at Sunday’s meeting.—Reuters