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Chávez sees oil at $200 if Iran invaded Benedict Mander Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, has warned that oil prices could reach $200 a barrel if the US invaded Iran. He also said that Venezuela would propose at the Opec summit this weekend a new method for measuring the price of oil and a formula to protect poor countries from rising prices. He told reporters in the capital that West Texas Intermediate, the widely used crude oil benchmark, was “a very, very, very small proportion if we compare it to the global daily production of oil . . . so it is not the best indicator”. He did not elaborate on alternative indicators. Mr Chávez also suggested that Opec should become a more important player in geopolitics, and finance social development programmes for poor countries in areas such as literacy, health, education and housing.
The oil cartel should “go beyond just energy, it should have the appearance of politics – even more so given the context in which this summit will take place”, he said. Although Mr Chávez did not expand on his proposals for measuring the oil price, he said it would not involve the creation of a new price band for Opec crude. Soon after he gained power in 1999, Mr Chavez managed to persuade Opec to maintain oil prices at between $22 and $28. But while the lower limit was kept, the upper limit was not.
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