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Change Your Life! |
Most notorious quota buster wants Arab, Asian ties |
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August 7, 2000
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries probably thought they'd never see the day when Venezuela, once the group's most notorious quota buster and most apathetic member, would try to promote deeper ties with Arab, African and Asian OPEC countries. But breaking with the past is President Hugo Chavez, leader of South America's only OPEC country. Fresh from a resounding re-election victory, the self-styled revolutionary departs Sunday on a 10-day trip to personally invite every OPEC head of state to a Sept. 27 summit in Caracas. Chavez hopes the meeting will rebuild the group's unity and increase its global importance. But Chavez may need more than a whirlwind trip to turn OPEC into a happy family again. Last month, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia undermined the group's credibility by threatening to unilaterally boost output to bring down sizzling prices. Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Ali Rodriguez recently admitted he was concerned about reports that the organization is leaking extra 700,000 barrels a day into the market. OPEC countries have been lukewarm about sticking to a self-imposed price band system that Rodriguez masterminded to keep oil prices stable. "It's like a class of children where not everybody is behaving well," said Mazhar Al-Shereidah, professor in hydrocarbons at the Caracas University. "We know current discipline is imperfect, and seeking unity is a difficult task." Not that OPEC hasn't shown the world its ability to pull together. When oil prices hit record lows in 1998 and 1999, the group agreed to a series of output cuts that lifted prices to nine-year highs. Chavez gained credibility among OPEC countries by helping engineer those cuts and ordering Venezuela to comply with its production quota. But with oil prices soaring now, some of OPEC's biggest producers are eager to reap the benefits and are reluctant to keep output down. On the other hand, heavy social spending and declining production capacity have forced Venezuela into the role of price hawk. "These prices aren't high," Chavez recently said. "They're just and fair." But Chavez will likely talk about more than just oil prices on his trip. The Venezuelan president sees OPEC as a tool to alter the world order. He frequently preaches about the need for the poor countries to band together to stand up to industrialized world powers. In the process, Chavez doesn't mind stepping on the toes of giants by championing engagement with internationally isolated nations such as Iraq, Iran and Libya. Few leaders of the world's democracies are ready to call Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "a brother" or praise Libya as a model of "participatory democracy." Chavez does, and next week he will become the first democratically elected leader to pay an official state visit to Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War. "Some say Saddam Hussein is the devil, but the devil is in hell," Chavez said. "We're all sons of God." Such statements, which seem to scoff at U.S.-led efforts to isolate Iraq, have raised more than a few eyebrows. Venezuela is the number-four supplier of crude oil and refined products to the U.S., and Chavez has drawn criticism for antagonizing the country's most important client. "Shake hands with Saddam Hussein, saying that $30 a barrel is fair and get away with it, that would be truly amazing," said one official at the embassy of a European country, who asked not to be named. Nevertheless, both Chavez and Rodriguez, who is also OPEC's president, continue to envision the birth of a new and united OPEC at the Caracas summit. "The summit will underline OPEC's strength, and OPEC will gain strength every day," Rodriguez said.
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