Caracas.- The People’s Minister for Energy and Petroleum and PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez, said that oil is approaching its fair price: "We hold that the fair price is $100 per barrel. We feel comfortable with this price level “he added.

Ramirez said that in the current market conditions, it is not necessary to take extraordinary actions at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to review the issue of price. "Of course, we will continue working within the organization to maintain the quotas, to continue to implement them and hope to analyze that in June, when we meet at the regular meeting," he said.

In this regard, the Minister stressed that given the current scenario "We would not be in a position to call an extraordinary OPEC meeting, because we believe that what it is happening has a lot to do with the financial markets, with the perception of the global market, and certainly the situation in Egypt, which in recent days has its share on market appreciation in the oil issue.”

"We firmly believe that there is enough oil, there has not been a reduction of supply, inventories are still growing, nothing has happened that drops the inventories," he added.

When asked about a hypothetical closing of the Suez Canal, due to the internal conflict that is occurring in Egypt, the Minister indicated that a sudden interruption in oil supply would raise prices significantly, and then OPEC could assess the situation and make decisions about it, always pursuing the statutes. "Venezuela will not ever play to chaos in the oil market," he said.

He noted that Venezuela continues to meet its production quotas, "Our production is around 3 million barrels per day and continue to build our capabilities."

In this regard, the Minister reported that PDVSA currently has 233 active rigs and that by the end of 2011 could reach the milestone of 240, with the arrival of 8 additional units that will be assembled in the China-Venezuela Drills Industry, located at Palital, Anzoátegui state.