Visiting Venezuelan Delegation To Meet Saudi Deputy Oil Minister -Source

A visiting oil sector delegation from Venezuela will meet Saudi deputy oil minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman in Saudi Arabia later on Tuesday, an industry source told Reuters.

The delegation will meet Prince Abdulaziz because Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi is out of the country on a business trip, the source added.

No further details of the planned talks were immediately available, and there was no immediate comment from the Saudi government.

The Venezuelan foreign minister said on its Twitter account late on Monday that Venezuela’s oil minister Asdrubal Chavez, foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez and finance minister Rodolfo Marco Torres had arrived in Saudi Arabia “to hold bilateral and working meetings”. It did not elaborate.

Venezuela has been keen for OPEC to take action to shore up oil prices, but Saudi Arabia and its OPEC allies have been pursuing a strategy of protecting market share rather than cutting their output to support prices.