US Should Join Efforts To Achieve Stability In Global Oil Market - Venezuelan PDVSA

US Should Join Efforts to Achieve Stability in Global Oil Market - Venezuelan PDVSA

The US government should join efforts to achieve stability in the global oil market, instead of distancing itself from the future of energy, Manuel Quevedo, Venezuelan oil minister and PDVSA company head, said Wednesday

BUENOS AIRES (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2019) The US government should join efforts to achieve stability in the global oil market, instead of distancing itself from the future of energy, Manuel Quevedo, Venezuelan oil minister and PDVSA company head, said Wednesday.

On Friday, oil prices fell just below $67 per barrel after the United States hit another record in oil production by pumping 12 million barrels per day, undermining efforts of other major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, at limiting their production to stabilize the market.

"Attacking OPEC, trying to divide its members and to give orders through social networks, [the US government] is distancing itself from future energy prospects very much. We want to work together for the common benefit of all countries," Quevedo said as quoted in a PDVSA statement, noting that the US government should join the work to achieve stability of the world oil market.

In January, US National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that the United States was imposing sanctions against Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA, adding that it will block $7 billion in PDVSA's assets.

Venezuela is currently going through a political crisis. On January 5, lawmaker Juan Guaido was elected as the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which all other government branches have been refusing to recognize since 2016.

On January 23, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido declared himself the country's "interim president." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for his second presidential term on January 10 after winning the May election, which part of the opposition boycotted, qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.

The United States immediately recognized Guaido, after which some 50 other countries followed suit. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia and a number of other states have, in the meantime, voiced their support for the legitimate government of Maduro. Mexico and Uruguay have refused to recognize Guaido, declaring themselves neutral and promoting crisis settlement via dialogue.