Venezuela's Maduro pursues push for OPEC output cut

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday he would keep pushing OPEC to cut oil output to boost sliding crude prices after the cartel opted not to slash production -- a move backed by Caracas.
OPEC had faced pressure from several of its poor members, notably Venezuela, to reduce production quotas but the 12-nation cartel's powerful Gulf members rejected calls to turn down the taps.
"We have not succeeded yet, but... we will continue to try until prices return to where they should be, at around $100 per barrel," Maduro said in a televised address.
Venezuela -- which has the world's largest proven oil reserves -- depends on crude exports for 96 percent of its hard currency revenues.
The price crunch has added to the headaches of a government already struggling to halt rampant inflation and ease severe shortages of the food and medicine it relies on oil money to import.
Oil prices tumbled to fresh four-year lows after the OPEC decision Thursday, with London's Brent North Sea crude for January delivery slumping to $71.25 and New York's West Texas Intermediate for January at $67.75 a barrel.