The planned meeting between Oil producers looks to be back on track, as the Gulf OPEC members are in support of holding a meeting next month to discuss a deal to freeze output even without Iran, OPEC sources said, as political pressure to prop up prices increases.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, had on Monday, said after talks in Tehran that a deal could be signed in April and exclude Iran, which he said has the right to boost output after years of sanctions.
Last week, the planned meeting between OPEC members which was set to take place in Russia on March 20 looked unlikely as Iran had not decided whether it would participate in the deal.
OPEC sources told Reuters that While an exemption for Iran is not ideal, it is not a deal breaker.
“It’s a setback but it will not necessarily change the positive atmosphere that has already started,” said one OPEC source from a major producer, referring to Iran saying it will not join any freeze accord.
“There are still talks about a possible meeting between main producers,” the source said.
Two other sources familiar with the matter said the meeting was set to take place on April 17 in the Qatari capital Doha.
Some OPEC sources said it was hard to backtrack from the freeze deal after Iran said it would not join, so as not to impact the market negatively.
“You can’t ignore all other oil producers. The meeting is likely to go ahead,” a third source said, adding that the April meeting was likely to discuss and finalise the details of the freeze deal. “We will not just meet for the sake of meeting.”
Iraq, also indicated interest in joining the deal, stating that the freeze initiative was acceptable, due to the hardship faced by producers caused by low oil prices.
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