Venezuela oil minister talks to OPEC head, seeks higher oil price

Eulogio del Pino, Venezuela’s Oil Minister  has spoken to OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo ahead of a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in hope of boosting the global oil price, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday.

Venezuela is among the worst hit by a drop in oil price which has been sustained since 2014.

Oil exports is responsible for more than 90 percent of Venezuela’s exports earnings and nearly half of its government’s income. And in 2015 alone, the revenue from oil exports and of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)—the state-owned oil-and-natural-gas company—plummeted by more than 40 percent.

“He [Eulogio del Pino] spoke with the secretary of OPEC, we are making efforts for a new meeting soon between OPEC and non-OPEC members, with Russia at the head … to stabilize the price towards $40 (per barrel) and over $50 and $60,” Maduro said on state TV.

He did not give any further details on the meeting.

In June, Del Pino told Reuters on the sidelines of Russia’s main economic forum in St. Petersburg, a production freeze could be discussed at an informal meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Algeria in September.