Venezuelan oil prices continue to slide

Venezuelan oil prices continued to slide for the eighth straight week, closing at an average price of 70.83 U.S. dollars per barrel, the Venezuelan News Agency reported Friday.
The average price this week is 1.97 dollars lower than that in the previous week.
"The price of crude oils continued to fall, affected mainly by an excess supply in the market, a stronger dollar, and the publication of negative economic data from China," the news agency quoted the Venezuelan Oil and Mining Ministry as saying.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez embarked Wednesday on a tour of several members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) "to outline a joint strategy designed to adjust the price of crude," said the news agency.
Ramirez has already visited Algeria and Qatar, and is set to travel to Iran. He will also visit Russia, another leading oil producer.
Ramirez's tour comes just two weeks prior to a scheduled OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, where members will decide whether to maintain the current output level of 30 million barrels per day.
Venezuela is an OPEC member and the world's fifth-largest exporter of oil.