Non-OPEC members to attend Venezuelan conference

Non-OPEC members to attend Venezuelan conference

CARACAS (AFP): The OPEC summit to be held here next month will be observed by oil ministers from non-cartel members Russia, Oman, Mexico, Norway and Angola, deputy foreign minister Jorge Valero said Thursday.

Valero, who head the panel organizing the summit, said these oil-producing countries were invited because they already coordinate policies with OPEC on production levels and pricing.

The summit dates were changed to September 27-28 instead of September 26-28, Valero said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez invited OPEC member leaders to the first summit of the cartel since the one in Algiers in 1975; all other meetings have been attended by energy ministers.

Valero ruled out the possibility of admitting new members to the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at the Caracas summit, noting that any new members must be accepted by consensus.

But he indicated that Venezuela supports the expansion of the cartel and said new members could be energy-producing countries of the former Soviet Union.

Valero said that Venezuela was not being proposed for the secretariat of OPEC, and that the candidacies of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq would stand.

Chavez said last week that the leaders of Algeria, Qatar, Nigeria, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates had accepted his invitation, while those of Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait declined but would send "top level" delegations.

The cartel agreed at its March meeting on a price band mechanism that provides for an automatic output increase or decrease if the price of a basket of OPEC crudes remains above 28 dollars or below US$22 a barrel for 20 consecutive working days.

If the price goes above the $28 mark, OPEC will increase output by 500,000 barrels, and if it falls below $22 they will decrease output by the same amount.

Benchmark Brent crude for October delivery was trading at $30.73 a barrel on Thursday in London.