OPEC not to allow world prices of oil to collapse

The OPEC will spare no effort to prevent a collapse of the world prices of oil, secretary-general of the international petroleum cartel Alvaro Silva Calderon stated in Moscow on Wednesday.

"It is necessary to take all measures for preventing a collapse of the oil prices which is dangerous both to the consumers and the producers of oil, as well as to those, who make investments in this sphere," he said at the ceremony of the signing of a protocol on cooperation between the Russian Federation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Oil and Gas Industrialists' Union of Russia.

"No one is interested in such oil prices which were, for instance, in 1998. We will not spare effort to prevent repetition of this situation," the secretary-general added.

In his opinion, good conditions have now shaped up on the world oil market, and the prices are within the confines set by the OPEC. "A reserve of oil exists in the world, and there is no threat of deficit of this raw material or of termination of the supplies. We must continue the same cautious policy of regulation of the market next year as well," the OPEC secretary-general stated.