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No Agreement To Cut Oil Output At Russia's Meeting With OPEC


A meeting between Russia, Kazakhstan, and OPEC members in Vienna did not produce an agreement to cut oil production to try to bolster sagging prices, officials say.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) invited eight nonmember states to the talks, and Russia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil agreed to go.

Russia and other producers outside the cartel have refused to work with OPEC in the past.

Russia's decision to attend earlier this month sent oil prices soaring amid hopes that the oil-producing states would take action to reduce the glut of oil in world markets.

Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino presented his country's proposals to bolster prices and said a fair market price for premium crude would be around $88 a barrel -- double today's rate.

"At $40 a barrel, we are below the equilibrium price," a situation that is causing drops in production and investment, he said.

A "significant part of the meeting was dedicated to Venezuela's proposals," said Ilya Galkin, Russia's representative at the meeting. "We did not discuss production cuts."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro afterward proposed another summit next month between OPEC and non-OPEC producers.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS

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