OPEC should consider oil cut if needed: Venezuela

CARACAS (Reuters) - OPEC should consider an output cut at its upcoming meeting, if it were warranted by market circumstances, Venezuela Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday, adding Venezuela could back such a cut.

"If a production cut were needed to stabilize the market, it would have to be considered," he told reporters. When asked if Venezuela would support a cut he said "we would be willing to do that."

Ramirez said member nations in the upcoming OPEC meeting would discuss oil's slump in recent weeks that has pushed prices from near $150 per barrel last month to around $115 in afternoon trading on Friday.

"Of course, we're going to discuss it," he said, regarding the fall in oil prices.

Volatility in oil markets is primarily driven by financial speculation, Ramirez added.

"Oil is being subjected to many speculative factors. We are seeing how oil fell almost $20 per barrel in a few days," he said.

"That is why we have warned that (the current) price fluctuations don't have anything to do with the fundamentals of the market, but rather with speculative actions."

(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Walter Bagley)