Venezuela's president says oil prices could fall further

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that prices could fall further for oil, the cash-strapped country's chief source of revenue."Today it is at $61 ... It had gone up $2 and then it came back down to $61, and it could fall a little more," he said, referring to the country's petroleum export basket, which trades at a discount to other benchmarks because of its heavy oil content. Crude oil prices have tumbled about 40 percent since June with U.S. crude closing Wednesday at $67.38 per barrel and Brent crude finishing at $69.92. The price decline is a major blow for the OPEC country which receives 96 percent of its foreign currency income from oil.A further drop would pile fresh pressure on Maduro, who is grappling with an economy largely believed to be in recession. The country is also in major arrears with private companies and dealing with costly bond and arbitration claim payments. More…