OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Sunday failed to reach a deal to freeze oil output, Reuters reports.
The participants of the meeting in Doha acknowledged that the fundamentals are improving. Qatar's minister said that the dynamics of oil prices is moving in the right direction, but it is unclear how long it will take to balance the market.
The group of oil producers discussed several mechanisms of the freezing, evaluated different scenarios and decided they need more time to deal with the issue. The participants of the meeting in Doha believe they need additional time before the next OPEC meeting in June.
An agreement on freezing oil production hasn't been reached during the meeting in Doha and the next meeting in the same format is expected in June, Nigerian Petroleum Resources Minister, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said.
"We will try to meet in June," he said, adding that the meeting will be attended by the same participants.
The negotiations in the Qatari capital has been delayed by over six hours and lasted for also nearly six hours. They were delayed due to the fact that Saudi Arabia demanded Iran to join a global deal on freezing oil output, an OPEC source said. The main debate on the draft agreement was between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which has supported Iran's position to freeze production only after it will regain its pre-sanctions level, RIA Novosti reports.
Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev also said that the talks have been tough.
During the meeting of oil-producing countries in the Qatari capital Doha Russia and Saudi Arabia discussed the wording of the agreement on stabilization of oil production.
The revised draft agreement requires the participation of all the OPEC countries and does not contain any binding points from the original draft.
"The draft also says that producers, both those who are members the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and those who are not will agree to freeze oil production at 'an agreeable level' as long as all OPEC countries and major exporting nations participated," TASS reports with reference to Reuters.
Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that the draft agreement of the oil producing countries expected to be signed in Doha on April 17 stipulates that the output will be frozen at the level of January 2016 until October.
Russia, Qatar, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have agreed to freeze oil production at the level of January 11 at a meeting in Doha on February 16 in order to support world oil prices, if other manufacturers join the initiative. Later, OPEC members and non-member countries have agreed to hold a meeting in an expanded format on April 17 in the capital of Qatar.
On the eve of the meeting the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Alexander Novak said that he is optimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement. The Minister of Hydrocarbons of Ecuador Carlos Pareja Yannuzzelli, Oman's Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy and Venezuela's Minister of Petroleum and Mining, Eulogio del Pino, were also optimistic about the meeting. Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Minister of Oil, Anas al-Saleh, said that he was sure that the countries will agree to freeze the production.
At the same time representatives of Iran have not attended the meeting in Doha. "Iran will in no way give up its historic production quota," the Iranian Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, stressed.
