Maduro Due in Tehran for Oil Talks

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is to arrive in Tehran on Saturday and meet President Hassan Rouhani for talks on the volatile international oil market. Maduro has said his government will continue to build common ground and a new consensus on stabilizing the global oil market and strengthening the unity in OPEC, IRNA reported. After the collapse of oil prices in 2014, Caracas has sought to rally support among OPEC and non-OPEC nations to boost crude prices by cutting production. Venezuela's state-owned oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. is required to pay  $1.8 billion this month and $3 billion next month in debt interest and bond maturities. Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which agreed at an informal meeting in Algeria two weeks ago on modest oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008. Rouhani has said OPEC members need to confer with non-OPEC producers in their search for higher crude prices and market stability.