Venezuelan President: OPEC members have not reached a consensus on holding an emergency meeting

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not hold a summit in the coming weeks, as proposed by his country, for “lack of consensus around this initiative”.

In October 2014, Venezuela requested an emergency meeting in order for the OPEC group to address the oil market slump. Oil prices have declined to their lowest level in 5 years and 11 months, despite China’s rising oil imports.

The Venezuelan economy has been seriously hit. As much as 96% of the country’s foreign currency income stems from oil.

Maduro made the announcement during his visit to Algeria. Algeria is the fourth OPEC Member State visited by Maduro in his international tour intended to stop the slide in oil prices. He has also visited Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Algeria and Venezuela are among the OPEC members which have been urging a cut in oil output to push prices up.

The US Energy Information Administration forecast the crude oil export revenues of the OPEC member states, with the exception of Iran, would reach $ 700 billion in 2014, with a decline of 14% compared to 2013, marking the lowest level since 2010.