Doha

Opec and non-Opec countries are studying a Venezuelan proposal for a heads-of-state summit to address low oil prices and stabilise the market, HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada has said.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of the GCC Oil Ministers here.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said last week he had suggested holding an OPEC summit to HH the Emir.

Al-Sada said, “Different countries are studying this proposal and there will be a response from both the Opec and outside of it. But we are in the study phase."

The minister, however, did not elaborate on the possible timing of such a response.

Opec last held a heads-of-state summit in Saudi Arabia in 2007, when oil prices were on their way to a record high of $147 a barrel reached a year later.

Brent crude has dropped more than 50% in the last year amid a surplus in global supply. Venezuela has proposed that Opec hold a session to arrest the slide and wants to invite non-Opec producers such as Russia.

Cash-strapped Venezuela has for months been pushing for an emergency meeting of the Opec with Russia to stem a tumble in prices.

Oil is trading below $48 a barrel, less than half its level of June 2014.

Al-Sada said the oil ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council states reviewed during the meeting prices of oil products amid reports the GCC states may unify fuel prices.

At the opening of the meeting, the minister said the GCC states would remain the trusted partner as a reliable source for energy to ensure stability of the global energy market.

GCC energy producers will continue to invest to maintain stable energy supplies, he had said earlier in Doha.

"The world knows very well that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are its trusted partner that will spare no efforts or investments ... to secure a stable source of energy to push the wheel of the global economy, and we will remain on this path God willing," he said.

GCC states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates -- together pump about 18mn barrels per day, a Reuters dispatch said. Of these Qatar, Saudi, Kuwait and the UAE are members of the Opec, which supplies about 40% of the world’s oil.

According to Bloomberg, most of the GCC countries face a greater risk of budget deficits this year due to faltering crude prices.

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi declined to comment on the crude market on prices.

“The earlier remarks by Qatar’s al-Sada were enough” he told reporters as he left the GCC meeting.