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 Producers both from and outside the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries will hold talks in the capital Doha on April 17,
Qatari oil minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said.
Around 15 OPEC and non-OPEC producers, accounting for about 73
percent of global oil output, support the initiative, the minister
said in a statement.
Brent crude futures were up 78 cents at $39.52 a barrel at
1140 GMT.
U.S. crude futures were trading 79 cents a barrel higher at $37.13.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela along with non-OPEC member Russia
agreed last month to freeze output at January levels, but Iran has
rejected such a deal.
On Monday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said a deal could
be signed excluding Iran, which he said has the right to boost oil
output after years of sanctions.
Kuwait plans to take part in the meeting, acting oil minister Anas
al-Saleh said on Wednesday.
Analysts, however, said talks about freezing output would do little
to rein in a global glut that sees more than 1 million barrels of
crude produced every day in excess of demand.
"Any such deal would still not be a game changer. It would really
just maintain the excess supply that is now in place," Thomas Pugh
of Capital Economics said in a note.
But Standard Chartered said supply concerns due to non-OPEC
production cuts could drive prices above $60 a barrel by the end of
the year.
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"We think that in coming months supply-side concerns will dominate,
particularly when global inventories start to fall, which we think
will happen in the third quarter," the bank said in a note.
U.S. shale producer Linn Energy <LINE.O> said on Tuesday that
bankruptcy may be unavoidable as the company missed interest
payments amid a slump in oil prices of as much as 70 percent since
mid-2014.
Other companies, also fighting for survival, are seeking risky and
costly borrowing from private equity firms.
The market is also eyeing crude inventory data from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration due later on Wednesday. The numbers are
expected to show a rise of 3.4 million barrels last week, a Reuters
poll of eight analysts showed. [EIA/S]
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by
Dale Hudson)
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