OPEC sees no shortage of crude "The basic principle is that we don't want to disrupt the world economy" Venezuela said consumer governments were to blame for high prices through market speculation, high taxes and costly environmental rules OPEC will act if prices stay at current levels, but it sees no shortage of crude on international markets according to acting Secretary-General Shokri Ghanem

The acting Secretary-General was responding to reports that U.S. President Bill Clinton is to discuss OPEC output with members of the oil cartel.

Prices near 10-year highs have drawn expressions of concern from the U.S. administration and the European Union.

Mr Ghanem said "We don't see a real shortage of crude. We think that the fundamentals of the market are okay."

Asked if an OPEC ministers' policy-making meeting on September 10 would add another 500,000 barrels per day to output under the terms of a price stability mechanism, he said:

"When the ministers meet they are not bound by whatever they have agreed - it could be more or it could be less."

Ghanem said: "The basic principle is that we don't want to disrupt the world economy."

Ghanem said the recent run-up in prices was due to speculation and argued that global crude supply exceeded demand in the second quarter of this year.

"I think that the movement in the price these days and for the last month or two is basically because of speculation."

President Bill Clinton told reporters OPEC would suffer if costly crude caused recession among consuming nations.

But in a growing standoff, leading U.S. supplier Venezuela said consumer governments were to blame for high prices through market speculation, high taxes and costly environmental rules.

President Bill Clinton is to discuss OPEC output with members of the oil cartel in the face of oil prices which he says are too high and need to drop to sustain economic growth.

Clinton said he would bring up the issue of OPEC oil output with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo during his visit to the African nation this weekend.

Nigeria is a member of OPEC and the cartel meets in Vienna on September 10 to discuss its new production levels.

In June, OPEC agreed to raise output by 708,000 barrels per day to 25.4 million but the extra oil failed to cool overheating prices

OPEC Secretary-General Rilwanu Lukman said the cartel could pump more oil if necessary but would not intervene every time prices rose

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 26, 2000