US playing down talk of oil rift with Algeria

www.middle-east-online.com Algerian embassy in US says Algerian assistance to Venezuela's oil industry is commercial matter between two.

ALGIERS - US officials in Algeria have played down reports of a standoff between the two countries over the decision by Algiers to send experts to Venezuela to aid its strike-hit oil industry.

The official APS news agency said late Sunday that the US embassy had issued a statement here in the wake of a rash of reports in the Algerian press recounting a diplomatic uproar between the two nations.

"Contrary to these reports, the Algerian ambassador in Washington, Driss Jazairi, has not been summoned to the State Department," it quoted the embassy statement as saying.

Le Matin newspaper had reported Jazairi had been called to the State Department to hear of the White House's unhappiness with Algeria's "unacceptable meddling in Venezuelan affairs."

APS reported the embassy saying: "Algerian assistance to Venezuela's oil industry is a commercial matter between the two."

Venezuela has been rocked by a weeks-long crippling general strike aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez from power.

OPEC energy ministers Sunday agreed to increase oil output by 1.5 million barrels per day to make up a shortfall in the market caused by fears of military action in Iraq and falling exports from strike-hit Venezuela.