Caracas calls for emergency Opec meeting

Venezuelan foreign minister Rafael Ramirez called today for an emergency Opec meeting to take measures to halt a slide in world oil prices.

Opec "must coordinate some type of action to halt the falling price of oil," said Ramirez, who had long served as Venezuela´s oil minister until his recent shift to the foreign ministry.

Venezuela's government "is convinced that (falling oil prices) are not due to market situations but to price manipulation to create economic problems for the large oil-producing companies,"he said.

"It's not good for anyone that the oil price should fall below $100/bl," Ramirez said.

The price of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PdV's oil exports this week fell by $3.17/bl to $82.72/bl, compared with last week, according to the energy ministry.

PdV's average export price has declined by $16.39/bl since a June 2014 monthly peak average of $99.11/bl to $82.72/bl at today's market close, energy ministry figures show.

PdV's year-to-date average export price was $94.99/bl at today's market close, compared to the full-year 2013 average export price of $98.08/bl and $103.42/bl in 2012.

Ramirez today called for action by OPEC to increase the price of oil to at least $100/bl, a price that Venezuela for years has maintained is "fair" for producers and consumers.

But Venezuela needs an average export price of $117/bl to fully cover central government fiscal needs and PdV's core capital expenditure requirements, central bank and finance ministry estimates show.

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