Oil Prices Dropped After Producers Fail to Agree Output Cap

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, had been prepared to freeze output if all Opec members had agreed.

The meeting in Qatar was attended by most members of oil producers’ group Opec, including Saudi Arabia, but not Iran.

But Iran is continuing to increase output following the lifting of sanctions against it. “As we’re not going to sign anything, and as we’re not part of the decision to freeze output, we ultimately decided it was not necessary to send a representative,” the Iranian government said.

Oil prices have dropped sharply after a meeting of oil producers failed to agree an output freeze.

Brent crude fell 7% at one point before recovering some ground. In afternoon trade it fell 3.4% to $41.70 a barrel.