Venezuela favors oil price band
Brasilia: The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez has said that with OPEC close to reaching production capacity, the organization should reinstate a price band for crude oil.

Tensions between major oil producing countries and consuming nations are the worst they've been since the oil crisis of the 1970s, Rodriguez has said. He suggested a deal between big consuming and producing nations to set prices and end volatile swings in petroleum prices.

The price band of $22-28 per barrel was set in 2000, but was largely ignored last year and was suspended in January. Crude futures rose above $52 yesterday, as traders responded to speculation that US refineries might be unable to match demand in the latter half of the year.

Venezuela, the world's fifth oil exporter, is a founding member of OPEC and supplies seventeen per cent of the United States' imports.
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