Iran's oil ministry said yesterday it was studying a
presidential proposal to sell cheap crude to poor countries a plan
redolent of Venezuela's attempts to counter US influence through
cut-rate energy exports.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in April proposed strengthening
the OPEC fund to lighten the burden of surging oil prices on poorer
countries while ensuring that rich nations paid the full price.
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said the world's
fourth biggest oil exporter was weighing this idea.
"The president's proposal of selling cheap oil to poor countries
is being studied and analyzed," Vaziri-Hamaneh was quoted as saying
by the official IRNA news agency.
"The president has appointed the oil and economy ministers to
assess his proposal," he added.
However, Vaziri-Hamaneh cautioned the proposal would take a long
time as parliamentary approval would be needed for any cuts in the
price of crude exports.
Energy accounts for 80 percent of Iran's export earnings.
Ahmadinejad has formed a strong alliance with fellow anti-US
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the world's fifth biggest oil
exporter.
Chavez has been sewing up cheap oil export deals around poor
countries in the Caribbean and Central America in a bid to outflank
the US, whose Free Trade Area of the Americas he vehemently
opposes.
(China Daily August 8, 2006)
