CARACAS - In what some analysts see as an indication that Hugo Chavez may be worried about his reelection chances in 2012, Venezuela's Minister of Petroleum and Mining, Rafael Ramírez, told reporters today in Vienna that OPEC members should reduce oil production.

"As long as Libyan oil production is recovering, the countries that increased oil production should reduce their current output," Ramírez told journalists at the 160th OPEC meeting to be held tomorrow to decide on output quotas of oil. 

The move would drive up world oil prices and provide the Venezuelan government with money needed to generate votes for the upcoming election. 

Chavez faces what may be his toughest reelection in October of 2012, with a unified opposition that is holding a primary to choose one candidate, rather than split the vote among several candidates. 

With Chavez battling cancer, and an economy that is failing amidst socialist price control measures and fleeing foreign investment, opposition to Chavez has grown over the last year.

The Venezuelan president's only means of maintaining electoral support of over 50 percent in past elections has been to spread money and subsidized appliances to favored voting precincts in the months leading up to elections.

The OPEC request comes after an announcement yesterday of a new Chavez "mission" to give poor children a $100 a month subsidy, a move that analysts say is typical of election year social spending by Chavez.