Chavez blames US invasion of Iraq for soaring oil prices

VENEZUELA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is partly to blame for rising oil prices.

Oil producing countries are not to be held responsible for the surge in oil prices, but the United States is “partially to blame” for it, Chavez told a press conference during a visit to Recife in northeastern Brazil.

During this visit, Chavez met his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the two countries’ state-owned oil and gas companies, Petrobras and PDVSA, signed a cooperation agreement.

Chavez said as a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela favors the fixing-price system that has worked well for three years, but the U.S. invasion of Iraq has brought instability to the market.

Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Xinhua