WIRE:09/21/2000 10:09:00 ET Oil supply not on OPEC summit agenda--OPEC president

CARACAS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - OPEC President Ali Rodriguez said the oil cartel would not discuss world oil supply at next week"s Caracas summit despite prices hitting 10-year highs this week. Venezuela intends to host the first heads of state summit by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 25 years next week amid calls from the United States and the European Union for more action from the exporters" cartel to bring prices down.

"We agreed in Vienna that these issues will not be discussed in Caracas," Rodriguez was quoted as saying in an interview Thursday with El Nacional newspaper, in reference to the Sept. 10 OPEC meeting in the Austrian capital. Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said on Wednesday that OPEC may decide to increase oil output at the Caracas meeting to cool prices that have fuelled inflation in the developed world. Rodriguez accused news agencies of misquoting the Algerian minister and said OPEC would discuss production again on Nov. 12 when it plans to hold an extraordinary meeting in Vienna. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the oil price, which hit $37.80 per barrel in the United States on Wednesday, was "fair" and said OPEC had already added more than enough extra supply to world markets. The rising tension between Gulf War foes Iraq and Kuwait would also be absent from the summit agenda, Rodriguez said. "This issue comes under the aegis of the United Nations, and more particularly the relations between the United States and Iraq," he was quoted as saying. The Caracas summit aims to discuss long term issues such as technological change, the environment and taxation in oil importing countries, according to the Venezuelan government Website at http:/www.opecsummit.org.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000921_1791.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 21, 2000