Brasilia (Platts)--23May2008

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Friday said he saw "no limit" to the
ongoing surge of oil prices and said the "world must get used to" them.

Chavez made his remarks after a South American presidential summit in
Brasilia.

Chavez said he did not believe record high oil prices could affect world
economic growth. He said the developed world must become accustomed to oil
prices remaining at a high level, just as Venezuela and other developing
countries have "assimilated" higher prices for goods they buy from the
developed world.

Chavez said the current oil price surge started with the US decision to
invade Iraq in 2003 and that prices continued to climb because of
geo-political factors beyond the control of Venezuela and its fellow OPEC
members. "Before that Venezuela had proposed to keep oil prices within a
strict price band," he said.

Venezuela in 2000 proposed trying to keep prices in a band of $22-$28/b.

--Joshua Schneyer, newsdesk@platts.com