Meeting on Doha Oil Output Freeze Deal to Take Place on March 20

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states and other oil producing countries on finalizing the Doha output freeze deal is to take place on March 20, the Nigerian Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said Thursday.

"We’re beginning to see the price of crude inch up very slowly. But if the meeting that we’re scheduling, it should happen in Russia, between the OPEC and non-OPEC producers happen about March 20, we should see some dramatic price movement," Kachikwu said at a conference in Nigeria's capital Abuja, as quoted by the Bloomberg news agency.

In mid-February, energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia held talks on the current oil market situation in the Qatari capital of Doha and agreed to freeze oil production at January levels throughout 2016 if other countries followed suit. Iran did not take part in the meeting. A number of other countries, including Venezuela and the non-OPEC member Oman, have expressed interest in the deal.

All the sides are ready to begin discussions, Kachikwu said.

Global oil prices plunged from $115 to less than $30 per barrel between June 2014 and January 2016, hitting their lowest levels since 2003 amid an ongoing glut in global oil supply. The slump has caused significant financial problems for many oil exporting countries.