Tension over dollar-weakness boils over at OPEC summit
Riyadh (dpa) - Tension over the weakness of the US dollar and rising oil prices boiled over Saturday at the opening session of the third-ever OPEC summit, with strident discussion over an Iranian demand that the final summit statement mention the weakness of the US dollar.
The heads of state of the 13-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - meeting in Riyadh for only the third time in OPEC's 47-year history - had on their formal agenda the effect of rising oil prices on poorer nations, climate change and fighting global warming.
But an inadvertently open microphone allowed reporters to eavesdrop before the official opening as oil ministers disagreed over the future role of the falling dollar in determining oil prices.
King Abdullah Abdel-Aziz opened the summit with a pledge that Saudi Arabia would allocate a grant of 300 million dollars "as a seed" for research on climate change, environment and energy resources.
Ironically, the OPEC meeting coincided with Saturday's presentation in Valencia, Spain, by the UN panel on climate change of a report that summarized warnings about the catastrophe that awaits the world if carbon dioxide emissions from burning oil and coal continue unabated.
"I hope that (oil) producing and consuming countries will engage in a similar programme, an endeavour that guarantees the wellbeing of the environment," said the Saudi monarch in his opening speech.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, with quick support from Venezuela, had requested that Iran's "concerns over the weak performance of the US dollar" be mentioned in the summit's concluding statement.
But Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned that it could lead to a "collapse" in the US currency. The microphone was cut off after organizers realized the breach.
EUX.TV
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