Doha: Major oil producers began talks in Qatar on Sunday to try to reach a deal on capping production to boost prices, despite Iran’s absence. Talks were delayed by several hours after some countries demanded changes to a draft agreement that calls for freezing production until October, a delegate said.
The delegate said a “small team of experts” was assigned to make the changes before the ministers went into the official meeting in the afternoon. Top energy officials from some 15 countries, including the world’s top crude producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, were at the Doha talks.
Nations inside and outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are anxious to stem a market nosedive that has cost exporters billions in lost revenue. From above $100 in mid-2014, oil prices dropped to 13-year lows of around $27 in February due to a supply glut, though they have since rebounded to about $40.
The meeting in Doha is a follow-up to talks in February between OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela plus Russia in which they first mooted the output freeze.
Saudi Arabia has insisted that all major producers must be on board for the freeze to work, including fellow Opec member and regional rival Iran. But Tehran, which has boosted production following the lifting of sanctions under its nuclear deal with world powers, has rejected any talk of a freeze.
Iran had initially said its Opec representative would participate in the talks but on Sunday oil minister Bijan Zanganeh announced Tehran would send no delegation at all.
Influential Saudi deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman reiterated in an interview with Bloomberg that the kingdom would not accept a freeze without Tehran’s cooperation.
