Venezuela, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Russia to meet to stabilize oil market

CARACAS - Venezuelan Oil and Mining Minister Eulogio del Pino said Thursday that his country will meet with Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar in mid-March to discuss how to stabilize oil prices.

"We have reached an agreement...in a yet to be determined city, to decide various proposals," Del Pino said in an interview with local news network Telesur.

He also called on all OPEC members and allies to participate in the meeting so as to take broad actions to tackle the troubled market.

"We need to submit this agreement to the main oil producers in the world...and take a decision on how to stabilize the market," he added.

On Feb 16, oil ministers of Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar signed a deal in Doha on coordinating actions to freeze oil production in a bid to stabilize global oil prices and ensure continued profits from the industry.

Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA also said the ministers have agreed to set up a monitoring committee "to follow up on the results of these actions."

The Venezuelan government has been actively seeking a freezing of production since mid-2015 as oil prices have fallen some 70 percent since mid-2014 to below 33 US dollars per barrel on Wednesday.