BREAKING NEWS

Venezuela, Iran plea for oil cut hits Gulf OPEC brick wall

By REUTERS

JANUARY 12, 2015 15:28

DUBAI/DOHA - A diplomatic push by Venezuela and Iran for an OPEC oil output cut has failed to soften the refusal of the group's Gulf members to do so for now, delegates said on Monday.

An oil price sinking under $49 a barrel on Monday is twisting the knife in Venezuela's steadily shrinking economy and in sanctions-bound Iran.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman in Riyadh before heading to Qatar and Algeria on a tour to discuss the oil price crisis.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also weighed in and told Venezuela's president on Saturday he backed coordinated action between Tehran and Caracas to reverse the more than 50 percent drop in crude since June 2014.

But the Gulf members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, who account for more than half of the 12-member group's output, are holding to their stance from OPEC's November meeting in Vienna.

"There's a push from Venezuela for a cut, this is what they argued in Vienna and this is what they are lobbying for now. But from what I see there is no sign of cutting production from the Gulf states," a Gulf OPEC delegate said.

"The only solution is to have the market absorb this surplus and the extent of that will be assessed by OPEC by ministers during their meeting in June."

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