Riyadh.- Asked about the admission of other South American nations to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), People’s Power Minister of Energy and Petroleum and PDVSA Executive Director Rafael Ramírez hailed the reentry of Ecuador into the organization and encouraged other producers to follow suit.

Ramírez is certain that such initiatives reinforce OPEC strategic objectives including supply of hydrocarbons at fair prices. “As soon as the occasion arose, Venezuela introduced the issue of Ecuador’s return to the Organization and upholds it, because countries’ sovereign decision to return or join OPEC, such as Angola, will make our organization stronger,” he said.

The Venezuelan minister reasoned about the OPEC situation following the second summit held in Venezuela in 2000. “Nowadays, OPEC is much stronger than OPEC during the Caracas summit. When countries attended that summit, there were already rumors about which would be the next country to pull out of the Organization. Some insisted on saying that Venezuela would do it. But, on the contrary, we are now adding countries and this is most important. New member states will be welcome.”