18 oil nations including non-OPEC Russia gathered in the Qatari Capital of Doha on Sunday 17th April 2016 in what was expected to be discussions on how to stabilize output at January levels until October 2016.
Iran’s absence from the talks did not go down well with OPEC’s leader (Saudi Arabia) who insisted that it would want all the members to take part in the freeze, if Iran agreed to join the freeze at the next OPEC meeting on June 2, talks with non-OPEC producers could resume.
No deal was reached after five hours of fierce debate about the wording of a communiqué, without a deal, the likelihood of markets balancing is now pushed further back.
Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday OPEC and non-OPEC should simply accept the reality of Iran’s return to the oil market: “If Iran freezes its oil production … it cannot benefit from the lifting of sanctions.”
