CARACAS (Dow Jones Newswires), September 30, 2008

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday called for oil producing countries to create an oil bank and warned oil prices could fall further.

"We once proposed the creation of an OPEC Bank...but it wasn't adopted. Lets work with the idea of an oil bank, a couple of oil (producing) countries can do it," Chavez said as he arrived in Brazil for a state visit.

The president gave no details of how this bank would work but insisted it was a needed idea.

Chavez also acknowledged falling oil prices and said he believed they would stabilize soon.

"We expect (the price) to stabilize between $80, $90 and $95 a barrel," he said.

His administration has lately defended the idea of a price for West Texas intermediate crude at $100 a barrel, a price level the Andean country promoted during the September meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna. 

Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.