DOHA,
Qatar (AP) — Oil-producing countries met Sunday in Qatar to discuss a
possible freeze of production to counter low global prices, but Iran’s
last-minute decision to stay home could dilute the impact of any
agreement.
The attendees, including Saudi Oil Minister
Ali al-Naimi, silently swept past gathered journalists at a luxury hotel
in Doha ahead of the meeting.
At least 15 oil-producing nations
representing about 73 percent of world output are expected at the Doha
meeting, Qatar’s energy and industry minister, Mohammed bin Saleh
al-Sada, has said.
The
gathering follows a surprise Doha meeting in February between Qatar,
Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, in which they pledged to cap their
crude output at January levels if other producers do the same.
They
hope the cap will help global oil prices rebound from their dramatic
fall since the summer of 2014, when prices were above $100 a barrel,
though no one is talking seriously about the more dramatic step of
cutting production.
Prices dropped briefly under $30 a barrel, a
12-year low, in January, but have climbed to around $40 a barrel this
week, boosted in part by market speculation about the coming meeting.
However, Iran decided to stay home late Saturday after saying the day before it would send an emissary to the meeting.
“We
reached the conclusion that the Doha meeting is for those who want to
sign the oil freeze plans, and if we wanted to have a representative at
the meeting, it was to show our support of this project,” Oil Minister
Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said, according to a report by the ministry’s
SHANA news agency.
“But since Iran is not going to sign this, there is no need for the presence of Iran’s representative at the meeting.”
With
many international sanctions lifted under its nuclear deal with world
powers, Iran began exporting oil into the European market again and is
eager to claw back a market share. It produces 3.2 million barrels of
oil a day now, with hopes of increasing to 4 million by April 2017. On
Friday, the Iranian Oil Ministry reiterated it would not join a freeze
“before it brings its oil exports to the pre-sanctions levels.”
Sunni-ruled
Saudi Arabia has said it won’t back any freeze if Iran, its Shiite
rival, doesn’t agree to it, throwing into question whether any deal will
be agreed to at all. The kingdom seems determined to ride out the low
prices that could squeeze Tehran.
No comments:
Post a Comment