ALGIERS, July 26: The price of oil could drop to between 70 and 80 dollars a barrel if the dollar strengthens and concerns over Iran are reduced, Opec chief Chakib Khelil said on Saturday.

“If the dollar strengthens and if the crisis with Iran is resolved, the trend in oil prices should be to go towards 70 to 80 dollars,” the head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said on the sidelines of a conference. Khelil is also Algeria’s Energy Minister.

MADRID: Venezuela will sell Spain up to 10,000 barrels of oil per day at 100 dollars a barrel in exchange for imports of medical equipment and other goods, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday.

The roughly 400 million dollars (255 million euros) which will be raised from the sale of this oil will be deposited in a bank account in Madrid which will be used by Venezuela to pay for the imports, he said in an interview.

“This could allow us to create a new international financial architecture in the future. It is a trial, an invention, I think it is time to start inventing new mechanisms of cooperation,” he said, adding the oil sales would start “soon”. “This will allow us to import food, medical equipment, technology, technology for wind energy which is of great interest to us,” he added.

Chavez said the agreement was finalised during his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Friday in Madrid.

Oil prices hovered around 125 dollars a barrel on Friday after reaching a record high of over 147 dollars on July 11.

Venezuela already provides oil at reduced prices to several Latin American countries, including Cuba. Chavez said he had also agreed during his visit to allow Repsol to boost its presence in the Orinoco oil belt in eastern Venezuela.—AFP