Russia Won't Take Part In Meeting Of Opec Ministers In Lisbon Late Next Week

Russia is likely not to take part in the extraordinary meeting of ministers of energy and oil of member- countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and representatives of states, major oil producers, which are not members of the world oil cartel, to be held in Lisbon late next week, the OPEC General Secretariat in Vienna reported. In the course of the 117th regular OPEC conference in Vienna attended by a representative Russian delegation headed by Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, a decision was made to set up a working group comprising experts from countries, members and non-members of the world oil cartel, to step up cooperation in oil policy and strategy as well as in setting oil prices. As is known, so far Russia has not received an official invitation to participate in the aforementioned consultations and the extraordinary meeting in Lisbon to be chaired by OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez Araque and Minister of Energy and Mines of Algeria Chekib Khalil and attended by President of Venezuela Hugo Frias Chavez. The latter was one of the initiators of the conference. According to a high-ranking source at the OPEC General Secretariat, the Lisbon meeting may focus on the situation in the world commodity markets with regard to a sharp fall in prices of crude oil, as well as strategic directions of OPEC cooperation with countries, non-members of the world cartel.