OPEC looking at expansion and reform
OPEC members will discuss the possibility of expanding the group at the summit to be held here at the beginning of
next year, a Venezuelan official said. Bernardo Alvarez, general director of the petroleum sector under the Ministry
of Energy and Mines, revealed that expansion of the oil organisation "has already been begun, considering all the
work done with Russia, Mexico and Norway".
The OPEC currently groups 11 members, which are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently proposed that the OPEC
headquarters, which is in Vienna, should be moved at the beginning of next year to Caracas of Venezuela, a leading
oil producer in the world.
The initiative was supported by the majority of the OPEC members, the Venezuelan government said. Alvarez vowed that
his country would contribute to the transformation of the organisation into one that not only decides oil prices, but
also act in other areas of the petroleum sector.
