Herrington Raps Texan’s Plan to Talk With OPEC

A Texas politician who plans to meet with OPEC ministers next week is “being used” by the oil cartel and is “playing right into their hands,” Energy Secretary John S. Herrington said Friday.

Herrington said he doesn’t challenge the right of Kent R. Hance, a member of the powerful Texas Railroad Commission, to meet with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But he said, “I would prefer he didn’t.”

Hance, one of three commissioners at the Texas government agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas production, is to meet with OPEC ministers in Vienna next week in an effort to seek “cooperation” and to “open a dialogue” with the 13-nation cartel.

It could lead to an agreement by Texas to cut its oil production in concert with OPEC and several non-OPEC nations as the cartel solicits help in easing an oil glut and propping up world prices. Hance insists that isn’t necessarily his goal in meeting with OPEC, however.

The Texas official, a former congressman who now heads the Texas steering committee for the presidential campaign of Vice President George Bush, says he notified both the departments of Energy and State of his plans. He says neither has objected.

Hance Being Used

But Herrington, in the midst of a trip to the Far East where he has met with oil ministers who will also be attending the OPEC meeting, said by phone from Bangkok that a key OPEC minister is citing the Texas initiative as he drums up support for oil production cuts.

He was referring to Venezuelan Energy Minister Arturo Hernandez Grisanti, who recently finished a series of visits with oil ministers in Brunei and Malaysia, two non-OPEC oil producers whose cooperation is being sought by the cartel, as well as OPEC member Indonesia.

“A country like Venezuela uses that. Kent Hance is being used,” Herrington said, adding that the matter has been raised by officials of each country he has visited in Grisanti’s wake. “He is playing right into their hands.”

Asked whether Hance is undermining U.S. policy, which opposes OPEC’s effort to control prices, Herrington said, “Sure.” But he added that he doesn’t expect much to come of Hance’s meetings in Vienna, and said that as a state official he won’t have much official standing at the meetings.

“My view is that Kent Hance is going as a representative of the Texas Railroad Commission. He doesn’t represent U.S. foreign policy or energy policy,” Herrington said. “This is an international meeting. . . . They’re not going to sit him at the table with the delegates. (But) he represents a certain interest group and it’s his right to go over there.”

Asked about Herrington’s comments, Hance said Friday:

“The failure of Washington to have an energy policy is the reason I’ve got to be involved. I don’t blame Herrington for the lack of an energy policy, but if they’re not going to be involved in Washington, we’re going to take the bull by the horns. For us to bury our heads in the sand and let someone else call all the shots on oil prices is ridiculous.”