MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Russia and some of the biggest OPEC oil-producers are attempting to negotiate a deal to freeze output at January levels, hoping the action will eventually cause oil prices to rise.
"We produce the oil and we must govern the markets and set prices," Maduro stressed as quoted by El Universal newspaper on Friday.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced on Friday that the price of a barrel of oil could rise to $200 in the medium term perspective.
Correa expressed confidence that "soon there will be solutions to this problem [of low oil prices] that hurts everyone" and called the negotiations between Russia and OPEC "a very positive sign," as quoted by El Universo.
On Tuesday, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Venezuela held talks on the current oil market situation in the Qatari capital of Doha and agreed to proceed with the output freezing initiative if other countries followed suit. The proposal was later backed by Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria and Oman.
Despite a brief rally immediately following the decision, oil prices have so far remained largely unaffected.
