Reports showed Venezuela’s Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said that a meeting between Russian Federation and OPEC members including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar was scheduled for March.
YOUR MAGAZIN
A boost for oil prices after Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar last week proposed to keep their output unchanged from January, provided other major OPEC and non-OPEC producers joined them, has since faded.
Oil prices fell on Thursday on concerns about oversupply amid a slowing global economy, although strong US gasoline demand helped limit losses.
The worldwide Brent crude benchmark (LCOc1) was trading at $34.17 per barrel at 0242 GMT, down 24 cents from its last close, hit by global oversupply that sees 1 million to 2 million barrels of crude produced every day above demand.
However, at 507.6 million barrels, the latest increase pushed total domestic crude inventory to another weekly high.
Brent crude futures traded 65 cents lower to $33.76 a barrel, also having lost more than $1 at the session low. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.06 to WTI.
Proposal to freeze output at January levels puts “unrealistic demands” on Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Tuesday, according to the ministry’s news agency Shana.
Crude oil prices flipped on Friday reversing falls in the morning into afternoon gains as traders closed short positions and strong USA gasoline demand supported the market.
Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated has said that it is not convinced that the oil production freeze discussion among Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other countries will have much significant impact on the oil market.
However, Iran refused to go along, as it is seeking to ramp up production levels depressed for years by economic sanctions that were lifted last month.
– Pierre Andurand, the hedge fund manager who predicted the oil collapse, said prices will move higher in the second half of the year.
Adding to the price pressure, Iran reiterated that it wouldn’t cut output until its production returned to pre-sanction levels of around four million barrels a day.
