UPDATE 1-Ecuador says high oil price due to speculation

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QUITO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Incoming OPEC member Ecuador said on Friday that record high oil prices are due to market speculation and also said that it would be independent from price hawk Venezuela when it joined the cartel.

"High prices are due to market speculation," Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga told Reuters. "Oil producers have no relation with that speculative process."

Ecuador, a small oil producer with an output of 500,000 barrels per day, was invited to OPEC's mid-November summit in Saudi Arabia, where government officials expect cartel members to approve Quito's petition to rejoin the group.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a left-wing economist who wants more state control over the country's economy, is a close ally of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez who has led a drive to nationalize his nation's oil sector.

When asked if Ecuador would support Venezuela's stance in future OPEC decisions, Chiriboga said "we will be independent... we will support our own decisions."

Ecuador, South America's No 5 oil producer, left OPEC in 1992.