Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil officials have clashed this week over production limits, people familiar with the matter said, as OPEC struggles to iron out differences ahead of a meeting next week in Algeria where output controls will be discussed, Wall Street Journal reports.
The disagreement took place among midlevel officials from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and Algeria meeting at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ headquarters in Vienna.
Iran wants to use output statistics produced by OPEC members’ national governments, while Saudi Arabia favors independent assessments by secondary sources of information such as consultants and analysts, according to people familiar with the Vienna meeting.
“They still cannot even agree on a baseline for a freeze,” said one person who attended the Vienna meeting.
