 "Opec Flag | via Shutterstock")
A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries may take place "in the coming weeks," Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino said on today, as the crisis-stricken South American nation seeks to prop up weak oil markets.
"We are actively promoting a meeting of producers, which we estimate could take place in the coming weeks, so that OPEC and non-OPEC countries can sit down to see what the scenario for the winter looks like," Del Pino told state television.
President Nicolas Maduro last week said his government was working to convene a meeting between of OPEC and non-OPEC countries to stabilise prices.
Russia, the world's largest oil producer, said on Monday it does not see any ground for new talks on freezing oil output but said it was open to negotiations.
Since the plunge in oil prices in 2014, Venezuela has repeatedly tried to broker deals to freeze production and reduce a supply glut, with limited success. OPEC members and other producers including Russia did not manage to reach an agreement on freezing supply at a meeting held in Doha in April.
OPEC members are scheduled to meet informally in September.
Venezuela, which receives almost all of its foreign exchange from oil, is struggling with the world's highest inflation, a severe recession and chronic shortages of food and medicine. Maduro says his government is the victim of an "economic war" led by political adversaries with the support of Washington.
