Latin American oil producers to meet in Quito on Friday

Latin American oil producers, including main exporters Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, will meet in Quito on Friday to seek a common position on global oil prices, the Ecuadorean government said.

"We're going to have a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean foreign and oil ministers, here in Quito, to reach consensus over oil, especially prices," Ecuador's Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa had announced the meeting last week, without giving a date, casting it as part of a push to raise global oil prices.

Venezuela, which has suffered particularly heavily from the loss of oil revenues at a time of deep economic crisis, has been pushing especially hard for a deal to freeze global oil production.

Venezuela and Ecuador are OPEC members, but Colombia and Mexico are not part of the cartel.

"All the (region's) producer countries are going to be present," added Long. "It will be an important step ... to adopt a common position in Latin America ... in view of the next OPEC summit." OPEC is due to meet June 2.