Investing.com - Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after a meeting of major producers in Doha on Sunday ended without an agreement on curtailing production aimed at shoring up oil prices.
Crude oil for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 185 cents, or 4.48%, to trade at $39.86 a barrel by 0828 GMT.
Global benchmark Brent was down 183 cents or 4.22% to $41.29 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange after falling as low as $40.58 earlier.
A meeting of the world’s major oil producers on Sunday ended without an agreement on a production freeze intended to rein in ballooning overproduction and bolster prices.
The meeting included both members and nonmembers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The talks collapsed after Saudi Arabia demanded that OPEC member Iran also join the agreement to cap its output.
Iran had already declined to take part in the talks and said it would not participate in an output freeze until its output levels return to where they were before international sanctions were imposed over its nuclear program.
Iran has only recently returned to international oil markets after sanctions were lifted in January and the country wants to regain market share.
Oil prices had rallied from January’s lows since the proposed freeze was first mooted in February, amid optimism that a deal would help ease the global supply glut that has seen prices sink from levels as high as $115 hit in mid-2014.
But analysts had cautioned that freezing production near current levels would be unlikely to reduce the supply glut.