OPEC ELECTED NEW GENERAL SECRETARY AND KEEPS QUOTAS
CARACAS 28 Jun. (IPS) The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will maintain caps on its production with the aim of pushing up prices to about US$25 a barrel, after a sharp slump that began to be reversed in April.
Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar-Zanganeh said that the OPEC members have decided that production quotas should remain fixed for the time being.
"Any change in production quotas will take palace in the OPEC’s September session, he said.
Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Alvaro Silva Calderon was appointed Secretary General of the Organisation Wednesday in a unanimous decision reached by the 11 member states: Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, replacing his countryman Ali Rodriguez, one of the main architects of OPEC's policy of supply cutbacks, which non-cartel oil exporters have also joined.
The election of Mr. Silva Calderon dashed Iran’s hopes to see its representative in the Organisation, Mr. Kazempoor Adebili, filling the prestigious seat.
Rodriguez resigned as OPEC secretary general when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called him back to head the state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela, to overcome conflicts that helped trigger a short-lived coup that briefly overthrew Chavez in April.
The strategy put in place by Rodriguez puts priority on achieving, and maintaining, "fair" international oil prices. Calderon said he would seek "market stability, to avoid a price collapse like the one we experienced in 1998, through concerted policies agreed on with non-OPEC members".
OPEC will have to work hard to ensure strict compliance with the production quotas assigned to each country, which have been exceeded in recent months, oil-industry experts say. The latest cut in production, in effect since January 1, removed 1.5 million barrels a day from the market, and brought the Organisation's production to 21.7 million barrels a day, 10 percent down from the beginning of the year. Qatari Energy Minister Abdallah Ben Hammad Al Attiya said it would be possible to hold production at 21.7 million barrels a day until year-end.
The cartel was also successful in its bid to get Angola, Mexico, Norway, Oman and Russia to join in the strategy, committing themselves to an additional cutback of 500,000 barrels a day, despite Moscow's reticence.
According to a system adopted thanks to close co-operation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, OPEC's heavyweightsd, the cartel would automatically increase or cut supplies in case prices stay under or above US $22 and $28 a barrel for more than six months.
In his first statement after his election, Calderon said his designation was "a recognition of the role played by Venezuela, and of our country's commitment to the strengthening of OPEC".
Since the Chavez administration took office in February 1999, it has made every effort to bolster OPEC, through a campaign that has included personal meetings between the president and his counterparts in the rest of the origination’s member states, and with the leaders of non-member oil producers.
In September 2000, Caracas hosted the second OPEC summit ever, on the organistion's 40th anniversary. The first such meeting took place in Algeria in 1975. ENDS OPEC ELECTIONS 28602