Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela's energy minister, is visiting Saudi Arabia as part of a presidential delegation to promote the hosting of an OPEC summit between September 27-29.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Jeddah on Monday on the first leg of a 10-country OPEC tour to whip up enthusiasm for the first OPEC summit in 25 years.

Asked his opinion on current oil prices, Rodriguez told Reuters by telephone from where the Venezuelan delegation is staying: "I think it is good."NYMEX crude was last trading nine cents lower at $28.82 while September Brent in London settled at $28.52 a barrel.

When asked about reports about excess Saudi output, Rodriguez said: "That is not a worry."

On Wednesday, Rodriguez called on OPEC to comply with output quotas to prevent further erosion in prices, which have come off recent peaks.He had earlier warned of a possible price crash to levels seen in 1998 and early in 1999 if OPEC members continued to oversupply the market.

Further extra saudi crude supply in doubt

Saudi Arabia reportedly raised output last month by around 250,000 barrels per day after failing to get OPEC members on board to raise production by around 500,000 bpd to cool overheating prices.

It was also reported to have been planning to hike output by a similar quantity in August. But U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Monday he was unsure if the kingdom and other OPEC nations would pump more oil and increase shipments to the United States this month.

Oil market traders also began doubting last week whether Saudi Arabia would supply the extra volumes as some Saudi customers said the kingdom appeared to have curtailed some of its promised output.

Rodriguez has strongly opposed any unilateral move by OPEC members to increase output beyond a price band mechanism which was informally agreed during an OPEC June meeting.

Under the mechanism, if the price of OPEC's basket of seven crudes stays above a $22-$28 band for 20 working days or below for 10 working days, crude output would be adjusted by 500,000 bpd either way to try to bring the price back into the range.

The price of OPEC's basket of seven crudes rose to $27.35 on Friday from $26.40 on Thursday. The basket has been inside the band since July 19.Rodriguez said the price band mechanism remained a satisfactory tool to stabilise world oil prices.

"It is good because oil prices have stabilised between $22 and $28 per barrel," he said, adding that he did not have a price target.

"We don't have a target, we have a band," he said.

Rodriguez said he did not discuss a possible increase in production for the upcoming OPEC oil policy meeting in Vienna.

It was not yet clear whether he would hold talks with his Saudi counterpart Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday.

President Chavez, who on Monday was met by King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah at Jeddah airport, is expected to hold more talks with Saudi officials and businessmen on Tuesday before heading to Kuwait, his next stop on his OPEC itinerary.

-- (Reuters)