REUTERS
Venezuela's Oil and Mining Minister Eulogio Del Pino announced that more than 15 oil producing countries will meet soon to discuss strategies to freeze oil production to January levels, according to Venezuelan news agency AVN.
Del Pino, who is in China along with other ministers displaying the Bolivarian Economic Agenda, said that this measure, promoted mainly by Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is a first step towards the stability of the global oil market, said Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in a press release, AVN reported.
On February 23, Del Pino said that this agreement could help boost oil prices around mid-year.
This proposal was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced Tuesday that his country's oil companies will be adapted to the measures taken.
On Tuesday, Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of Russia, said that this decision can be effective even without the participation of Iran, although he added that it is possible to agree on individual conditions with this nation after the end of the sanctions imposed on it.
Read alsoOil prices fall as OPEC squabbles over output targets, crude stocks swell – Reuters"Iran is in a special situation because it has the lowest production levels and, for this reason, in my opinion, an individual solution could be reached with Iran," Novak said.
Besides Russia, UAE Minister of Energy Suhail Al Mazrouei considered necessary for oil producing countries to freeze their production. "All producers must, like it or not, freeze their production," he said.
The collapse in the price of crude, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is due to an oversupply in the oil market, caused by overproduction of countries like Saudi Arabia and the slowdown of the Chinese economy.