VOL. XLV

No 8

25-February-2002

OPEC/VENEZUELA

ChavezAccepts Budget Basket Price Cut To $16/B

PresidentHugo Chavez on 12 February announced that the government was abandoning theoriginal price assumption contained in the countrys budget of an average of$18.50/B for the basket of crude oil and refined products, with the figure nowestimated at $16/B. We have to recognize, he said in a televised address,that the oil price is stabilizing at the level of $15-16/B. We are acceptingthe idea that the...