MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Major producers failed to reach a widely anticipated agreement to freeze oil output at January levels in Doha on Sunday, as a measure to bolster plummeting prices. Saudi Arabia cited Iran’s exclusion from the agreement as the reason behind its unexpected last-minute back-out.
"Of course, when there is an agreement and there is a deal, the risk of speculators playing on the market decreases. The absence of such agreements, in my opinion, of course creates such opportunities," Novak said in an interview with the Russian NTV broadcaster.
Oil prices declined from $115 to less than $30 per barrel between June 2014 and January 2016, hitting their lowest levels since 2003 amid global oversupply.
News of members and non-members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) failing to reach an output-cutting deal sent prices to slide by over 3-percent as of mid-Monday.
