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OPEC, International Energy Agency pledge to keep oil market stable amid tensions “Oil is not a weapon,” OPEC secretary-general, IEA executive director tell 17th World Petroleum Congress; IEA will meet with OPEC in Osaka, Japan, in two weeks By Harold Olmos Associated Press Writer
OPEC and an organization of oil-consuming nations steered clear of historic antagonisms and pledged cooperation to keep oil prices stable amid worries about tensions with Iraq.
OPEC Secretary-General Alvaro Silva Calderon, a Venezuelan among the founders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Robert Priddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency, agreed that “oil is not a weapon.”
They vowed to work together to keep oil markets steady at a time of volatility over the Bush administration’s public relations offensive against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Bush has said repeatedly that Saddam is a menace to world security and must be removed. Iraq was a major oil exporter before its 1990 invasion of Kuwait; it now exports under a U.N. controlled program.
“Fair and equitable prices will guarantee a prosperous future for all concerned — producers, companies, investors and consumers alike,” Silva told the closing session of the 17th World Petroleum Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “But for the desired conditions to be put in place, we have to ... expand our dialogue with all the parties.” Both want stability Joining Silva in addressing the elite oil industry executives at their biggest world gathering, Priddle also was upbeat.
“We both want market stability ... with prices not so high that they choke off demand,” said Priddle.
The four-day summit, which ended Sept. 5, was attended by 3,100 delegates from 59 countries.
OPEC and the IEA were at odds in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Arab oil producers cut supplies to the West to punish the United States and other nations for their support of Israel.
Silva and Priddle said both institutions will meet during an OPEC assembly in two weeks in Osaka in their first face-to-face meeting ever. Both want a role in setting oil prices. Consumer nations need a voice Silva said crude oil prices are still within the band of $22 to $28 per barrel set by the OPEC cartel, and that the average for the year should be about $23.
But Priddle said consumer nations need to have a voice, adding: “No market will follow guidelines by a cartel driven by the needs of oil producers.”
On the question of Iraq, Silva insisted his organization would do what it could to stabilize prices in volatile times.
“Concrete cooperation and coordination of policies will hopefully result in all interested parties pulling together,” he said. But he warned that “there will always be unforeseen events affecting the market.”
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