Venezuela hoping to steeply raise oil output next year

Venezuela is hoping to steeply raise oil output next year but will respect any new deal if Opec agrees to reduce output from December, Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said on Sunday. The south American Opec nation's current oil output is 1.5 million barrels per day and it aims to increase that by 1 million bpd "soon", he told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Quevedo was speaking in Abu Dhabi where an oil market monitoring committee was held on Sunday, attended by top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia. A majority of Opec and allied oil exporters support a cut in the global supply of crude, Oman Oil Minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhi said earlier in the Emirati capital.