Venezuela Says U.S. Shale Won’t Hurt OPEC’s Heavy Oil

The rising supply of U.S. shale oil doesn’t affect exporters of medium and heavy crudes such as Venezuela, the Latin American country’s oil minister told reporters before an OPEC meeting tomorrow.

“Shale is a production of light crude and that doesn’t affect us as being big producers of medium and heavy crudes,” Rafael Ramirez said in Vienna, where ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are gathering. “We have a big capacity to place our crudes, including the U.S. market.”