Oil Prices' Decline Slows Down After Kuwait's Statement on Output Freeze

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Brent June 2016 futures was trading at $37.66 per barrel by 13:42 GMT, while WTI May 2016 futures was trading at $35.56 per barrel at the same time.

Earlier in the day, Kuwait's OPEC governor Nawal Fuzaia said that the oil produces could agree to freeze the output at February levels at the April 17 Doha meeting. She said that such decision would balance supply and demand in the second half of 2016 and help prices rise to average between $45 and $60 per barrel by the end of the year.

Fuzaia said that the producers may reach the agreement on the output freeze even without the participation of OPEC member Iran.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members and non-OPEC oil producing states are scheduled to discuss oil production freezes at a meeting on April 17 in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Iran has repeatedly said that it would not join the production freeze talks unless its own output reaches 4 million barrels per day. According to OPEC, Iran’s production level currently stands at 3.1 million barrels a day.

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 oversupply in global oil supply.