Kuwait’s Opec governor says all signs point to freeze deal
Kuwait has said that all signs point to a freeze deal at a meeting between Opec and the world's biggest oil producers later this month.
In a speech at the oil ministry, Kuwait's Opec governor Nawal Al-Fuzaia, didn't elaborate on which signs point to an agreement at the talks in Doha on 17 April.
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This year's oil price rally stalled recently after Saudi Arabia said it wouldn't freeze oil production without participation from Iran. It had previously indicated a willingness to hold production steady even if the Opec rebel did not.
Fuzaia added that producers might agree to freeze their output at February levels, or at an average of January and February levels.
Opec's Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela and non-Opec Russia provisionally agreed to freeze oil output at January levels, providing others joined in. This helped oil prices climb around 50 per cent from January lows of $27 per barrel.
Fuzaia also said rising Iranian production was not in itself a problem, but there was a problem with Iran's ability to sell this additional quantity into a saturated market amid weak demand.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to boost oil output after economic sanctions were lifted earlier this year. Its oil exports roughly halved from 2.6m in 2011 to 1.3m in 2015 at the hands of a US and EU embargo.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 0.2 per cent to $37.60 this afternoon. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, was flat at $35.7.