Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has predicted that oil prices will most likely continue to decline as the US falls into a recession.

“The price of oil is falling? Yes. The price will carry on falling? Probably. But Venezuela will not drown,” Chavez said on Wednesday.
Chavez added that the global economic crisis may affect Venezuela, but it would not lead to a collapse in the country.
Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has set its 2009 budget based on the estimation that its crude will sell for USD 55 to USD 60 a barrel. The Latin American owes almost half of its annual income to oil exports.
The Venezuelan president’s claims come as world oil prices plummet to a 13-month low and touch USD 73 a barrel, falling to around half the all time high of USD 147 they reached earlier this year.
Crude fell as concerns about a decline in global demand grew in the wake of a looming global recession that was triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis and credit crunch.
On Wednesday, unexpected US economic data scrapped any optimism about government bailout measures changing the course of the US financial meltdown.
An unusually bleak report on US retail sales, which represent the bulk of US economic activity, shattered sentiment in Wall Street.
At 0615 GMT, US crude for November delivery was down USD 2.44, or 3.3 percent, to USD 72.10 a barrel.
OPEC’s monthly report is expected to also include an estimate of next year’s global oil demand. The cartel meets in November in Vienna to assess the global financial crisis’s effect on the oil market.
(Source: Press TV)