Venezuelan Oil Minister Says OPEC Has De Facto Output Freeze

Venezuelan energy minister Eulogio Del Pino said on Wednesday OPEC has a de facto oil output freeze as its overall production stood steady in the past few months.

Del Pino was a key architect of a proposal to freeze oil output earlier this year, but the plan fell apart in April after Saudi Arabia said it would take part only if rival Iran also participated.

"Production has been frozen ... Because if you see the decline in the non-OPEC and all the situation that happened in several countries, production has been maintained the same in the last three or four months," Del Pino told reporters ahead of a regular OPEC meeting on Thursday.

"So de facto we have freeze conditions," Del Pino said.

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Dale Hudson)