Quito pushes Colombia, Mexico to freeze oil output

OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2016. Ecuador is lobbying fellow Latin American oil exporters Colombia and Mexico to freeze production as part of a broad price-boosting effort that would be cemented at a 17 April meeting of Opec and non-Opec producers in Doha.

Ecuador's oil minister Carlos Pareja said he plans to meet tomorrow with his counterparts in Bogota and Mexico City.

The government has been pressing for a regional summit of oil producers in Quito to coordinate their stance in anticipation of the Doha meeting.

"Ecuador and Venezuela have already agreed on an output freeze and if we can reach an understanding with Colombia and Mexico, we could then organize an energy and foreign affairs ministers meeting in Quito on 8 April," Pareja said.

The main goal of the Quito meeting would be to reach a Latin American consensus over the need to support a proposal to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels in order to reverse the oil price collapse, Ecuador says.

Venezuela?s energy ministry had no immediate comment on Ecuador?s initiative.

Officials in Colombia and Mexico could not be immediately reached.

The impact of a regional meeting would be psychological more than practical. Colombia and Mexico are already registering steady declines in oil production. Production in Ecuador and Venezuela is flat to declining as well.

The proposal originated from a meeting in Doha last month between the oil ministers of Opec members Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and non-Opec Russia.

Ecuador had originally proposed a regional meeting on 11 March, but the talks were postponed because Mexican energy minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell was unable to attend and Colombia had just appointed a new energy minister, according to Ecuadorean officials.

Ecuador?s president Rafael Correa has said that "oil production should be controlled or even reduced, if needed, to promote an oil price recovery," and stressed that "a reasonable equilibrium price" must be pursued.

"We must talk and discuss a solution, a proposal to stabilize the market. Ecuador remains optimistic that we can achieve an agreement that will drive us to a price level profitable for everybody. No country, large or small, is prepared to endure current oil prices," Pareja said.