Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is set to travel to Saudi
Arabia and two other OPEC member countries to discuss the drop in
oil prices following his current visit to China, the government in
Caracas said this week.
News of Mr. Maduro's trip comes amid a continuing slide in
global oil prices. Brent crude earlier Wednesday fell briefly below
$50 a barrel, its lowest level in five-and-a-half years, before
recovering later in the day.
Oil's fall is causing severe problems for producing countries
like Venezuela which rely heavily on oil revenues to fund
government spending. Venezuela would need oil to average around
$117.5 a barrel this year to balance its budget, according to
Deutsche Bank estimates.
In a statement posted on its Twitter account, Venezuela's
information minister Jacqueline Faria said Mr. Maduro was to travel
to Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, and to Iran and Algeria. State news
agency AVN said he would discuss falling oil prices.
Venezuela proposed a cut in OPEC's production ceiling to bolster
oil prices at the group's last meeting in November. But it was
overruled by Saudi Arabia, which convinced other members of OPEC
that the grouping should defend its market share against U.S.
shale-oil producers.
(Kejal Vyas in Caracas contributed to this report.)
Write to Benoit Faucon benoit.faucon@wsj.com
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