A tour by petroleum minister of Venezuela to the Arab area

Venezuelan Petroleum Minister Ali Rodriguez is currently making a tour of some of the petroleum-producing Arab states beginning with Libya to prepare for the OPEC meeting in Vienna at the beginning of next month.

Libyan sources told ArabicNews.com that the Venezuelan official urged Libya to agree to increase OPEC's production, saying that the Libyan and Algerian stances are not strict toward raising the production ceiling, but they ask OPEC to wait until after the second quarter of the current year before increasing production.

This is do to concerns that a decrease in demand during the next three months could lead to decreasing petroleum prices to below their current level, which is nearly $25 per barrel.