Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could fix a price for oil in a range of US$40 to US$50 per barrel, adding low petroleum prices were a thing of the past.
Chavez's comments come ahead of a crucial OPEC meeting in Iran on March 16. Some analysts are expecting the cartel to cut production to boost oil prices, which have skyrocketed over the past year on supply worries.
Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has been consistently pushing for higher oil prices. Venezuela currently produces more than 3 million barrels of crude oil a day.
"The era of cheap oil is over," Chavez told reporters in New Delhi.
"The world should forget about cheap oil. It will never go back to the US$10 per barrel rate that prevailed in those days," he added.
Chavez didn't elaborate on how OPEC would introduce a trading range for oil prices, which are currently set by the market.
Chavez, who is on a four-day state visit to India, said he was considering increasing oil trade with countries like India and China to ensure their fast economic growth.
"Venezuela will now help the Southern Hemisphere countries with its oil more than it has helped the United States," he said.
"America wants to keep all the good things in the world for itself. But we will not let them do it," he said.
Relations between the US and Venezuela have deteriorated steadily since Chavez took office in February 1999. He has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to destabilize his government. The US State Department has rejected the allegation.
Separately, the US will buy crude from another country if Venezuela follows through on President Hugo Chavez's threat to cut off supplies, the US ambassador to Caracas said in interviews with local media.
Venezuela supplies the US market with 1.5 million barrels of crude a day -- about 15 percent of its crude needs, or nearly as much as Saudi Arabia supplies to the US.
Chavez has threatened to cut off that supply if there is any US "aggression," such as a military invasion or an attempt on his life.
"If the United States does not buy oil from Venezuela, it will buy it from another country," US Ambassador William Brownfield said in an interview with Globovision television news. He gave a similar assessment in interviews with local newspapers that were published on Saturday.
In Caracas, Brownfield acknowledged that a suspension of Venezuelan imports would initially "distort" the US economy, but dismissed it as a minor blip. "In the end, a free market can accommodate such a distortion," he said.
Washington wants to maintain its current relationship with Caracas, Brownfield said, adding that the White House is "analyzing options" in the event that there is a cut in supplies.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS