Gadhafi wants freeze on crude oil production

Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi, insisted that member countries of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries should stop pumping crude oil in winter 1998-1999 to shore up prices.

Libyan news agency JANA quoted the Libyan leader as saying "it is not at all logical that prices of products that we import, as consumer, are rising while those of crude oil are constantly slumping." Gadhafi sent a letter in this regard to all heads of state of member countries of the OPEC cartel.

Oil prices have been decreased from $ 40 per barrel in the 70s, to the current $ 10 per barrel.

Last month, oil ministers of OPEC countries failed to reach, in a meeting in Vienna, a solution to shore up prices of crude oil on international markets.

Only three African countries, Algeria, Libya and Nigeria, are members of the organization that coordinates and harmonizes oil policies of the 11 member countries.