CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino said on Tuesday eight non-OPEC countries have been invited to an Oct. 21 oil meeting: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Mexico, Oman and Russia.
The technical meeting of oil experts from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries will be held in Vienna, he said in a message to Reuters.
"The confirmations are coming in gradually and I'm personally calling ministers to ensure that the delegation is of the adequate level of authority," del Pino said.
OPEC nation Venezuela this month will unveil a bold new strategy to revive oil prices, taking a page from OPEC's history books with a proposed price band to build an automatic floor for prices at $70 a barrel.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Venezuela's long-time oil minister and current United Nations ambassador Rafael Ramirez said the proposal – to be presented on Oct. 21 – would reapply the old mechanism of progressive production cuts to control prices, with a "first floor" of $70 per barrel and a later target of $100 per barrel.
But previous calls for production cuts over the last year have failed as Gulf countries such as Kuwait said they are not needed.
OPEC used the band system until 2005, when it was scrapped as prices exceeded its upper end due to soaring demand.