CARACAS (Dow Jones)--President Hugo Chavez suggested Tuesday that Russia could soon coordinate oil output cuts in line with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, in a bid to shore up falling prices.
"We've talked with Russia's president and prime minister about the need to fortify the relationship and coordination between OPEC and Russia. For what? To limit oil output," Chavez said in a televised address from Ecuador.
"We have a lot of faith that this (OPEC, Russia coordination) will begin to happen for various reasons," he said, adding he would give no more details on the issue.
Closer output coordination between Russia and OPEC, Chavez said, would aim to stabilize the oil market toward the end of this year or early in 2009.
Chavez also suggested that a price of $70 or $80 a barrel is enough for Venezuela to comfortably move forward with its spending plans.
"In any case, if the price of a barrel stabilizes in a floor of $70 or $80 a barrel, that is more than enough," Chavez said. A price "of $80, $90 or $100 a barrel, that would be the range for stability."
Such a price range, the president noted, would help countries like Ecuador and Venezuela continue to invest in a host of energy related ventures such as refineries.
Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, has proposed the group adopt once more a price band that keeps prices moving between $80 to $100 a barrel.
"It may be viable again to establish a price band to stabilize prices," Chavez noted, referring to a possible OPEC price band.
Chavez insisted that such a mechanism can help keep oil prices relatively stable even in the face of various geopolitical problems.