Mumbai: All eyes will now be on April 17, when major oil producers from both Opec and non-Opec countries will meet in Doha to discuss freezing oil production at January levels. Iraq and Iran have not shown any firm commitment to the output freeze proposal, while Libya, whose production remains crippled by political unrest, has said it will not join the meeting.
According to a Platts Survey, Opec pumped 32.38 million barrels of crude oil per day in March. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar had had initially planned to freeze production at January levels in order to help balance oil markets and support oil prices.
However Saudi Arabia had maintained its output at 10.20 million barrels/day for the third consecutive month in March, the survey showed. According to Platts senior editor Eklavya Gupte, “Iran and Iraq remain the big swing factors, having driven Opec output higher in March, while Saudi Arabia has been more neutral, keeping production steady since January.”
