Venezuela Sees $50-60 Oil Acceptable for Economy

Caracas hopes that the global oil market will stabilize in the range of $50-60 per barrel, Russia's ambassador to Venezuela told Sputnik. Venezuela considers global oil prices of up to $60 per barrel sufficient to keep to the state budget and ensure investments into the energy sector, Russian Ambassador to Venezuela Vladimir Zaemsky told Sputnik.

"Caracas hopes for the world's oil market to stabilize in the range of $50-60 per barrel, which is preferable for the Venezuelan economy and will allow the country to smoothly resolve its current problems, stick to the government budget and secure investments into the sector," Zaemsky said.

Venezuela, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, relies heavily on oil exports, has been hit hard by the ongoing slump in the global oil market that saw prices fall to their lowest level since the early 2000s in 2015.

Caracas welcomed OPEC's decision last week to work toward imposing a collective production ceiling, the ambassador said.

On Wednesday, OPEC member states reached a preliminary deal to set the output ceiling at 32.5-33 million barrels a day for the whole organization.

The details of oil output freeze is expected to be presented at the group's next meeting in November. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the deal "historic."

Global oversupply and stagnating demand have caused oil prices to plunge from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 in January 2016. Prices recovered amid Nigerian, Canadian and Venezuelan output outages and growing demand in May, reaching a peak of over $50 per barrel in early June.