Chavez wants USD 70-90 oil price

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says OPEC should create a price band for crude oil between USD 70 and USD 90 per barrel.  "Let's put that band back again, but not between 22 and 28 (dollars per barrel) ... that was 2002, 2003, and it worked," Chavez said during the inauguration of a power plant.   "The band could be 80 to 90, 70 to 90 (dollars), and we could perfectly handle that scenario," he said.  OPEC on Friday announced it was taking 1.5 million barrels per day off the market after oil prices collapsed by half since July and by USD 40 per barrel in the last month.
Opposition leaders and Wall Street analysts have said Chavez's self-styled revolution could face a financial crisis if oil prices continue falling, but Chavez insisted his government could withstand oil prices even of the late 1990s.  "If (prices) reached USD 7 per barrel again this revolution would not fall, it would actually get stronger -- I say that as a challenge," Chavez said. Chavez earlier in the week said his government would not be affected even if Venezuela's oil basket dropped to 2006 levels of USD 55 per barrel.  Venezuela's oil, which generally trades around USD 10 per barrel less than U.S. light oil, averaged USD 61 per barrel in the week ending Friday, the energy ministry said.  The nation's 2009 government budget is based on an oil price of USD 60 per barrel. SG/HAR Original source at PressTV