OPEC Chief Urges Russia to Help Stabilize World Oil Market
Russia can play a leading role in stabilizing global oil markets as prices continue to surge amid fears of war in Iraq and a strike in Venezuela, OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva-Calderon said in an interview published Wednesday. "Russia can now play an extremely important role," Silva-Calderon told the Vremya Novostei daily, while urging closer cooperation between Russia and the oil cartel. Russia, one of the world’s top oil exporters but not a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, earlier this month pledged full cooperation with OPEC to boost deliveries and stem the steady rise in world prices.
"Moscow expresses a permanent wish for cooperation, with the goal of stabilizing the world’s oil market," Silva-Calderon told the daily. Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov pledged Russia’s cooperation during a visit to Kuwait last week, saying that Moscow was ready to provide Venezuela with tankers to export oil in the face of its six-week-long strike. Silva-Calderon also urged all oil producers outside OPEC to join in on efforts to cooperate. "Certain countries can confirm that they have reached maximum production capacity, but they can always make extra efforts," the secretary general said, commenting on Norway’s refusal to increase production.