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Clinton says lower oil price in Opec's interest

WASHINGTON: President Clinton said on Friday several major U.S. oil suppliers are looking to increase their production because they know high oil prices will hurt them economically in the long run.

Opec members Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, along with non-Opec member Mexico, have expressed support for increasing oil supplies to replenish dwindling petroleum stocks and push oil prices down to the $20 to $25 a barrel range.

"I think that they're doing it because they believe it's in their long-term best interests," Clinton told reporters.

President Clinton said high oil prices are not good for oil producing nations because it slows the economies of oil importing countries. "They will provoke an economic downturn among their customers and then the (oil) demand will fall off," he said.

Clinton also said high prices would encourage other countries to increase their oil production that Opec would not have control over, which would raise supplies and push prices down too low.

"So, I think they would be making a sound decision to try to stabilise prices at a lower rate," Clinton said, referring to Opec.

Opec members will meet at the end of next month to decide whether they should extend their production cuts implemented last year that took 4.3 million barrels of oil a day off the world market, or ramp up production.

The White House has sent U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on a 10-day mission to major oil producers to urge them to increase their production.

Richardson will meet with Saudi Arabia's oil minister on Saturday to discuss additional supplies after holding similar oil talks in Kuwait on Thursday.

Richardson will present the results of his trip to Congress next Wednesday, when he testifies before the House International Relations Committee at a special hearing on U.S. policy toward Opec.

The Clinton administration is under growing pressure from Congress and the public to convince Opec to increase its production in order to avoid record high gasoline prices this spring and summer.

Clinton said the United States is not pressuring any country to raise its oil output. "I think this is a decision they will make on their own based on what they believe is in their best interest," he said.-Reuters