"We have invited some countries not in the OPEC, including Egypt, Syria, Oman, Angola, to attend the conference, but Russia is not on the list," he said.
Mr Ibrahim explained that as a rule observers from Russia which is an OPEC observer country are invited at routine conferences. The conference to be held in Beirut will not be such, he added. (By the way, in the absolute figures of total oil export volumes Russia is second to Saudi Arabia only while leaving the OPEC's giant behind in oil production).
According to Mr Ibrahim, decisions to be adopted at the Beirut conference will be sort of a signal to the market which will react in its way. "There is little hope that oil prices will fall even if a decision will be taken at the conference to raise oil production quotas, for high oil prices are being kept not because there is a deficit of oil in the world," the OPEC spokesman said.
"Oil prices are based on demand and supply, yet the geopolitical factor which the OPEC cannot influence is playing a major role here too," he added. According to Mr Ibrahim, cooperation between all oil producers in and outside of the OPEC is necessary to stabilize the oil market.
The special conference in Beirut will discuss the proposal by Saudi Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Naimi to raise oil production and oil export quotas for OPEC countries by 2 million barrels a day. The other members of the cartel, Venezuela in particular, are resolutely against the initiative.
Despite the fact that Lebanon is not an OPEC member and has no oil resources, the conference of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will be held in Beirut for a fifth time since the Organisation has existed.
