VENEZUELA yesterday said it was trying to rally support for a meeting of oil producers to agree measures to prop up oil prices, the struggling Latin American country’s biggest source of income.

    Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is suffering from an economic and political crisis and relies heavily on oil export revenues.

    Its government has long called for oil producers to come up with measures to buoy oil prices.

    President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday on state television that he was in talks with several other oil exporters to organize a producer meeting.

    “I spoke today with King Salman of Saudi Arabia. In the coming hours, I will speak to the Emir of Qatar. I sent a communique to President Vladimir Putin [of Russia]. I’m going to speak too with President Rouhani from Iran. I’m in touch with President Correa [of Ecuador], members of OPEC and non-OPEC [countries],” Maduro said on his weekly television show, adding that Venezuela was pushing to “stabilize” the oil price at US$40 per barrel.

    Eulogio del Pino, Venezuelan oil minister, said Monday that a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries may take place “in the coming weeks” and that Venezuela was “actively promoting a meeting of producers ... so that OPEC and non-OPEC countries can sit down to see what the scenario for the winter looks like.”

    After recovering for much of the first half of this year following a 70 percent price rout between 2014 and early 2016, oil prices have slumped 15 percent again since June to the low US$40s per barrel as crude and refined product markets remain oversupplied. (SD-Agencies)