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       Oil Producers, Minus Iran, Discuss Output Freeze at Qatar Meeting

   by VOA News

   Energy officials from the world's major oil-producing countries, with
   the exception of Iran, are meeting in Qatar for talks on a possible
   freeze in production to counter the historically low prices seen
   recently by the industry.

   Representatives from at least 15 oil-producing nations, including Saudi
   Arabia and Russia, met Sunday in Doha to discuss efforts to stem the
   dip in prices which have cost exporters billions in lost revenue.

   A draft agreement calls for the oil producing nations to cap output at
   January levels until October. Their goal is to raise oil prices, which
   fell from $100 a barrel in mid-2015 to under $30 a barrel in January.

   However, Saudi Arabia has said it will not support the freeze if Iran
   does not agree to it.

   Iran earlier said it would send an emissary to the meeting but ended
   not sending any delegation. It has boosted its oil output since the
   lifting of sanctions following a nuclear deal with world powers.

   "We reached the conclusion that the Doha meeting is for those who want
   to sign the oil freeze plans, and if we wanted to have a representative
   at the meeting, it was to show our support of this project," Iranian
   Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh was quoted as saying by the SHANA
   news agency. "But since Iran is not going to sign this, there is no
   need for the presence of Iran's representative at the meeting."

   Analysts say that between Iran's production levels, and that of other
   oil producing nations, oil prices should remain low even if freeze does
   come into effect.

   Some material for this report came from AP.
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   ut-freeze-at-qatar-meeting/3289361.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/oil-producers-minus-iran-discuss-output-freeze-at-qatar-meeting/3289361.html