Venezuela Backs OPEC Cut as Oil Glut Builds; Prices Fall

Venezuela said it is proposing that OPEC cut output to ease a global supply glut. Crude futures tumbled to a four-year low, signaling traders’ weakening faith in the group’s willingness to act. “Everybody has to make some sacrifice,” Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in Vienna today at the start of OPEC’s meeting. He said the market was oversupplied by about 2 million barrels a day, equal to or more than the output last month of each of OPEC’s six smallest members. Crude oil slumped into a bear market this year as global demand growth weakened and U.S. production expanded to a three-decade high, bolstered by fracking. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg last week were evenly divided on what the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will decide today, with half forecasting a cut and the other half no change. More…