Qatar invites OPEC members and other producers to April oil meeting

[March 22, 2016]  DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar has invited all OPEC members and major producers from outside the exporting group to attend talks next month on a deal to freeze output at January levels to support the global oil market, Qatar's energy ministry said on Tuesday.

Members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other main oil producers are due to meet on April 17 in Qatar's capital Doha to discuss stabilizing prices by freezing production.

"The need has become an urgent matter to bring back balance to the market and recovery to the global economy," the ministry said in the invitation letter.

Qatar holds the OPEC presidency in 2016 and has been organizing the effort.

Iran has maintained that it will increase exports, following the lifting of Western sanctions in January and will not freeze output. But Gulf OPEC members support the pact even if Iran declined to take part, OPEC sources said.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal, editing by Louise Heavens)

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