Doha: Drama, Delays, but Day Ends With No Deal at Oil Freeze Meeting

Talks were being held in Doha Sunday

Today's much anticipated oil freeze meeting in Doha between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers saw plenty of drama, but as the day drew to a close ministers have been quoted as saying no agreement has been reached.

"The general conclusion was that we need more time to consult among ourselves in OPEC and non-OPEC producers," Qatar Oil Minister Mohammed Saleh Abdulla Al Sada was reported to have said, while a senior Gulf oil official was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying OPEC and non-OPEC members are unlikely to meet again for another four months.

In the meantime, the next OPEC meeting is scheduled for June 2.

Iran, who in the run up to the meeting said it would attend despite it being "ridiculous" to think it would be part of any deal, on Saturday decided to pull out of the meeting all together.

"If Iran freezes its oil production ... it cannot benefit from the lifting of sanctions," Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said Saturday.

The talks were then delayed as Saudi Arabia Sunday morning "changed everything," according to one OPEC source, with the Kingdom saying it wanted all OPEC members to take part.

It had earlier insisted Iran be excluded given its refusal to participate in the freeze.

However, informal meetings were said to have taken place over a revised draft agreement, but a report by Reuters, who said it had seen the new wording, spoke of it being a "soft freeze" that would limit production to "an agreeable level" rather than the current level.

"I am not sure you can call it a freeze," an OPEC source was quoted as saying.

With talks reported to have been ongoing into the evening, it would seem the much hyped meeting has now ended without agreement.

Even if it had resulted in a deal, several analysts in the run up to the meeting, including the International Energy Agency (IEA), said that any freeze agreement would be meaningless given the current oil glut and already high output level - with Iran and Saudi Arabia the only potential participants seen as being able to increase production.

Despite this, in recent weeks even the smallest agreement rumour has been enough to send markets surging one way or another.

Wth the U.S. not in Doha, one analyst suggests a lack of agreement today will only increase Saudi Arabia's resolve against the producers it has told to "get out" of the market.

"If there is no deal today, it will be more than just Iran that Saudi Arabia will be targeting. If there is no freeze, that would directly affect North American production going forward, perhaps something Saudis might like to see," Abhishek Deshpande, an oil analyst at Paris-headquartered Natixis was quoted as saying earlier in the day.