Learning English - Words in the News 02 June, 2006 - Published 10:04 GMT OPEC oil output unchanged | ||||||||||||
The cartel of oil producing nations OPEC has decided to leave oil production levels unchanged at its meeting in Venezuela. At a news conference, OPEC announced it would continue pumping oil at full capacity. This report from Greg Morsbach: OPEC has decided this was not the time for cutting petroleum output. Energy ministers here didn't have the stomach to cut back production at a time when crude oil prices were reaching historic highs on the international exchanges. It was feared that cuts in the output would send prices even higher and dent global economic growth. While nobody here seems surprised about oil output levels remaining the same, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela managed to raise a few eyebrows among delegates when he held a highly politicised speech calling on OPEC to be an anti-imperialist organisation. He went on to describe Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the jailed Marxist militant, as a good friend. Venezuelan-born Ramirez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, led a terror attack against OPEC's Vienna headquarters in 1975. Greg Morsbach, BBC News, Caracas petroleum output didn't have the stomach cut back send prices even higher dent to raise a few eyebrows held calling on militant headquarters | LATEST STORIES 27 May, 2011 Destruction of smallpox virus delayed 25 May, 2011 Micro-finance 'misused and abused' 20 May, 2011 Lonely planets 18 May, 2011 Germany to invest in more electric cars 16 May, 2011 Argentina builds a tower of books Other Stories | |||||||||||