Mexico to take part in OPEC meeting

Mexico will take part in a technical meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Oct. 21 in Vienna but will not cut oil production, the country's energy minister Pedro Joaquín Coldwell said on Wednesday.

Joaquín Coldwell pointed to flagging oil output, which has steadily declined since reaching a peak of some 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004, to explain why Mexico would attend but not consider pumping less crude.

"We are going with a technical delegation to receive information... (and) exchange it with other producers," he told reporters after an event in Mexico City. "But Mexico will not take part in any reduction in production volume."

Mexico is not a member of OPEC but has been invited, along with seven other non-member countries, to attend the Vienna meeting.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said late on Tuesday the head of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA Eulogio Del Pino would also attend the meeting to "present the details of our proposal."

Venezuela, which is an OPEC member, has proposed reviving OPEC's old price band mechanism, attempting to set a $70 floor for the battered market, which oil traders see as doomed from the start.

When asked about the proposal, Coldwell declined to comment, saying he was not familiar with it and would make a decision after it was presented at the meeting.

OPEC has invited eight oil-producing countries that do not belong to the organization to attend the meeting, in an attempt to devise a strategy to underpin slumping oil prices, Venezuela's Del Pino told Reuters on Tuesday.

Delegations from non-OPEC members Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Mexico, Oman and Russia were invited but not all have responded yet, Del Pino said.