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Venezuela Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said Tuesday that OPEC will increase the price of oil by roughly US$10 per barrel over the next nine months.
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"Between 60 and 70 dollars, that’s the optimal price that an oil barrel should have," Del Pino said before the National Council of Productive Economy in Caracas. "The government is working to reach that goal."
Such an increase would likely result in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue annually for Venezuela, which produces 2.4 million barrels of oil daily, and is the 10th largest oil-producing country in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Del Pino added that Venezuela and Iran's success in negotiating a deal within OPEC to lower the numbers of barrels produced per day is a significant breakthrough that can lead to further price stabilizations.
Del Pino noted that during a recent phone conversation, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, that it was essential for oil producing countries to reduce the current oil glut.
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"All countries should help the committee of experts to take decisions in (OPEC's) November summit that raises oil prices," Rouhani said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. He added that OPEC countries should also negotiate with non-OPEC members to stabilize the market.
Venezuela last week supported the OPEC decision to reduce its oil output to 32.5 million barrels-per-day from the current production level of around 33.24 million barrels per day.
Most oil exporters in Latin America were hit hard by the global drop in oil prices in late 2014, a move led by Saudi Arabia to control the global market. This especially hit Venezuela hard, forcing it into one of its worst economic crises in decades. Virtually all of the country's export revenue is derived from the sale of petroleum.
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