Venezuela sees 2008 oil price near $100 per barrel

Venezuela expects 2008 global oil prices will remain similar to the record prices seen this year, oil minister Rafael Ramirez said on Sunday. "We expect that the (global) market will maintain the same prices that we have seen this year," Ramirez told reporters.
"Probably, if there is no geopolitical tension like what we have seen recently, prices should be around $100 per barrel," he said. "We believe this shows there have been structural changes in the market."
Ramirez spoke to reporters after voting in Sunday's referendum aimed at formalising socialism as the OPEC-member country's economic system and allowing anti-American firebrand President Hugo Chavez to run indefinitely for reelection.