Caracas presses Moscow to cut oil flows: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. October 26, 2016. Venezuela is trying to persuade non-Opec producers led by Russia to reduce their combined crude production by up to 500,000 b/d before Opec's 30 November meeting, a presidential palace official said.

Venezuelan energy minister and state-owned PdV chief executive Eulogio Del Pino met today in Moscow with Russian energy minister Alexander Novak to make Venezuela's case for the non-Opec pledge, the official said.

Del Pino and his Russian counterpart reviewed the status of ongoing efforts to forge a pact between Opec and non-Opec producers to adopt coordinated market stabilization measures with Opec.

Opec producers are already willing to cut output by 700,000 b/d, and by adding in the proposed maximum non-Opec contribution the total six-month reduction would be as much as 1.2mn b/d, Del Pino said, adding that the Venezuelan proposal will be discussed at an Opec technical meeting on 28-29 October.

Securing a commitment from Moscow is "critically important" because Russia likely would account for the largest share of a reduction in output by the non-Opec producers, the palace official said.

Russia sponsored a meeting with representatives of Opec countries yesterday. In a series of Twitter messages, Novak said Russia agreed to join Opec for "informational and analytical studies" and would hold another such meeting in 2017. "In the current situation freezing or even production cut for a certain time is the right solution for global energy sector," Novak said.

Russia produced at a post-Soviet Union record high of more than 11mn b/d in September.

Del Pino arrived in Moscow after accompanying President Nicolas Maduro to the Middle East, including visits to Azerbaijan and Iran. Maduro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and with new UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in Lisbon before returning to increasingly tense Venezuelan soil yesterday, promising dialogue with his opponents.

The Vatican offered to mediate talks between the Maduro government and opposition political groups less than a week after Venezuela's government-controlled CNE electoral authority suspended a year-long presidential recall referendum drive.

But the effort to establish a dialogue announced early yesterday in Rome already appeared to be crumbling hours later in Caracas as hardliners in the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) and the opposition Democratic Unity coalition (MUD) rejected any possibility of political concessions by either side.

Internal splits aside in both camps, the unpopular Maduro government shows no sign of loosening its grip on political power, with explicit support from the military's high command, including generals loyal to PSUV hardliner Diosdado Cabello.

The MUD appears equally determined to raise the stakes in the power struggle, calling for massive but peaceful daily protests starting tomorrow.

MUD leaders warn that the latest attempt to establish a dialogue will falter unless the government allows a referendum this year and releases what they identify as political prisoners.