MOSCOW, January 15 (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro will discuss bilateral projects and the situation with the global oil market during their Thursday meeting in Moscow, a Kremlin spokesperson told RIA Novosti.
"During the meeting, Putin and Maduro will discuss bilateral relations, cooperation on the implementation of joint projects and the problems [the two] countries face during the implementation," Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
Global oil prices have fallen dramatically since June 2014 due to oversupply in the market and currently stand at $46 per barrel of Brent crude. In November 2014, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to keep its oil output quota at 30 million barrels per day – a move that contributed to a further drop in prices.
Late in December, Maduro accused Washington of waging war against Russia and Venezuela by deliberately lowering global oil prices. He said that Venezuela will do everything possible for the prices to get back to $100 per barrel.
On January 10, the Venezuelan Noticias24 newspaper reported that Maduro and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had agreed to cooperate within OPEC to stabilize global oil prices. The next day it was announced that Nicolas Maduro has reached a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi.
Nicolas Maduro is currently touring a number of oil producing countries. He is visiting Moscow upon the invitation of the Russian President.
Venezuela is Russia's second largest trading partner in Latin America after Brazil. The last meeting between Putin and Maduro took place on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brasilia in July, 2014.
