Qatar: Top oil exporters fail to reach production freeze agreement

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak gave a press statement after 18 of the world's major crude oil producing nations failed to reach an oil production freeze agreement in Doha, Sunday.
"The conditions of the new agreement have caused heated discussions during today's meeting, which lasted for almost 13 hours. As the result of the meeting the countries failed to agree on the terms which will satisfy all the participating sides," Novak stated.
Novak confirmed that OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) member states will hold additional consultations with those countries which were not represented at the meeting ahead of the OPEC summit in June. "Non-OPEC members including Russia will be ready to participate in the future meeting if such agreements are reached. We believe that the door is not closed. There will be a possibility to hold additional consultations," the Russian minister added.
Qatar, Kuwait and Venezuela joined Russia and Saudi Arabia in a production freeze agreement in a coordinated move to boost oil prices. The preliminary agreement to cap output was signed on February 16.