Venezuelan minister big output hike may provoke price collapse

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WIRE:03/15/2000 11:09:00 ET Venezuelan oil minister: big output hike may provoke price collapse CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) _ Venezuela's oil minister has warned against a big oil output hike by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, saying it could "provoke a collapse in oil prices." "A mistake in the increase will lead immediately to grave problems," Ali Rodriguez said in an interview published Wednesday with the local daily El Nacional.

Neither Rodriguez nor other ministry officials could be reached for additional comment.

OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet March 27 in Vienna to decide on an oil production increase designed to reduce prices that have reached nine-year highs.

"It's a matter of how much the increase should be, when it should become effective and how it should be done," Rodriguez was quoted as saying.

Rodriguez said OPEC should recognize that fact Venezuela has cut oil production by 650,000 barrels a day since March 1998.

"We have the right to ask for an equivalent percentage ... when an increase in production is approved," he was quoted as saying.

Rodriguez also was quoted as saying state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela could quickly boost production by 125,000 barrels a day. "But for larger quantities we have to wait a little longer," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20000315_826.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 15, 2000


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