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RIYADH - VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez said that oil prices could more than double to US$200 (S$290) per barrel if the United States attacked Iran over a standoff about Teheran's nuclear programme.
'If the United States is crazy enough to attack Iran or commit aggression against Venezuela ... oil would not be US$100 but US$200,' Mr Chavez told an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday. His remarks were translated into Arabic.
Mr Chavez also said US$100 per barrel was a 'fair' price for oil.
Oil has lapped against the US$100-mark this month, prompting consumer nations to call on the exporter group to help ease price pressure by providing the market with more crude.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia objected to an attempt by Iran and Venezuela to highlight concern over the dollar's weakness in the summit communique and the group voted the proposal out.
'Opec must stand up and act as a vanguard against poverty in the world,' Mr Chavez, a self-styled socialist revolutionary, told the meeting, held in an opulent hall with massive crystal chandeliers. He proposed that Opec set up a bank to help developing countries.
'Opec should be a more active geopolitical agent and demand more respect for our countries ... and ask powerful nations to stop threatening Opec,' he said, as US-allied Gulf Arab leaders sat stony-faced.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who chaired the meeting, was heard after the 25-minute lecture by Mr Chavez as saying to him: 'You went on a bit!'
Venezuela is a price hawk, holds some of the largest reserves outside the Middle East and is the No. 4 US supplier. -- REUTERS
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