Venezuela said Tuesday it would oppose any increase in OPEC oil output because of the NATO air campaign against Libya, according to an AFP report.
Some OPEC members have expressed support for increased production quotas to make up for production lost as a result of the conflict in Libya, a member of the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
But Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said there should be no production hikes “above all because we cannot give a blank cheque to NATO so that it can bomb any nation over oil”.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has sided with Libya’s Muammar Ghaddafi in the conflict, contending that the true aim of the NATO air campaign is to gain control of Libya’s oil.
OPEC’s member states, who together account for 40 percent of the world oil supply, failed to agree a rise in output from the current official output target at 24.84 million barrels a day, where it has stood since January 2009. This pompted Saudi and other gulf states to unilaterally increase production.
Analysts believe this may be nothign more than a PR stunt, as Venezuela is already near maximum production, having spent or given away oil contracts and revenue as quickly as it has earned it, and further expolitation of it’s thick bitumen is currently uneconomical. Â
