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No oil production freeze agreement after talks break down in Qatar | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Despite crisis talks in the Qatari capital stretching late into the late, OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers have failed to agree on a cap that would prop up oil prices, which have been collapsing over the past year. | |
At the final press conference on Sunday evening, Qatar's energy and industry minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, said countries at the talks would “need more time” for consultations, before attempting to make a deal, likely at the next scheduled talks in June. | |
Sources told Reuters that members of the Middle East-dominated OPEC plan to negotiate among themselves, before presenting a more united position to those outside the group. | |
The 18 countries that gathered in Doha, which included Russia and Saudi Arabia, represent nearly three quarters of the world’s oil output. According to a leaked draft of a final agreement, the signees would agree to cap production at January 2016 levels. | |
But the talks hit a last minute hitch, when Saudi Arabia demanded that regional rival Iran also freeze its own output. Iran, which had planned to send a delegation to the meeting, before pulling out at the last moment, says it has no intentions of curtailing production, after suffering years of recently-lifted EU and US nuclear sanctions. | |
“We respect Iran’s position, and will continue negotiations,” said bin Saleh al-Sada. | |
Earlier this year oil prices fell to a 13-year low of $30 a barrel, prompted by rising production and stuttering BRICS economies. Since then, they have recovered to about $45 dpb, but most analysts predict a steep fall on the back of the latest impasse. |