• by IPS Correspondents (caracas)
• Wednesday, November 16, 1994
• Inter Press Service

CARACAS, Nov 16 (IPS) - Venezuela will ask to keep its current Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries production quota, at a ministerial-level OPEC conference to be held in Bali, Indonesia, a government source said on Wednesday.

Before boarding the plane to Bali, Energy Minister Erwin Arrieta said Venezuela forecasts a mere 1.2 percent rise in global demand for oil, currently at 67.5 million barrels a day.

The 12 OPEC countries' production of 24,520,000 barrels a day - of which Venezuela's quota is 2.36 million barrels - has held steady since 1993.

Arrieta pointed out that for the last three years, there has been abnormal behaviour in the stocks accumulated by consumer countries, which have stayed high in industrial northern regions even in winter.

But the Venezuelan minister said the holding down of OPEC offer could force consumer nations to drain off part of their stock in the first three months of 1995, and thus head off price drops.

Other member countries share Venezuela's wish to maintain their OPEC quotas, among them Saudi Arabia - the world's largest oil exporter - and Kuwait.

OPEC nations account for 76 percent of global oil reserves, particularly concentrated in the Gulf countries and Venezuela, but they only satisfy 36.3 percent of demand in an effort to curb the tendency toward dropping prices.

The 96th OPEC conference, to be held Nov. 21-22, will face the charged task of naming the organisation's new secretary general, which has been blocked by disagreements between Venezuela and Iran.

According to OPEC statutes, the new official must be unanimously elected. In the previous conference held in June, only Iran - which presented its own candidate - failed to vote for Venezuela's candidate, the former minister Alirio Parra.

To propose an alternative solution to the conflict, Nigeria then launched the candidacy of former minister Rilwanu Kukman. Venezuela refuses to withdraw its candidate until current OPEC statutes are reformed to avoid the possibility of one country vetoing the majority position.

Arrieta said Venezuela will go to Bali with Parra's candidacy as "it does not make sense to withdraw a candidate who has 11 of the 12 possible votes," but he added that as Venezuela "has always been in favour of reconciliation," Parra will be withdrawn if election rules are changed.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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