Oil Volatile As Iran Denies Reports It Agreed To Deal
Update (8:00 am ET): Oil prices spiked Friday morning before quickly fading after Reuters reported that Iran has agreed to the OPEC deal for 800,000 b/d of cuts – only for an Iranian delegate to swiftly deny that report, sending crude prices back from whence they came.
The Iranian delegate said there’s still ‘lots of haggling’ about a possible deal.
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Update (7:10 am ET): As furious negotiations continue on day two of the OPEC+ talks in Vienna, one OPEC delegate has informed BBG that the group has yet to finalize the final number for the cuts.
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Update (6:30 am ET): Boom…
OPEC TALKS IN VIENNA ARE DEADLOCKED: DELEGATE
Reports of the deadline followed headlines claiming that Iran had demanded that an exemption must be included in any agreement about production cuts. A counteroffer for Iran to agree to a “symbolic” cut has reportedly been categorically rejected by the Gulf Producer. WTI has moved back to unch on the day.
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Update (6:20 am ET): Expressing dissatisfaction with the terms of whatever deal has been discussed, Iran is reportedly holding out for language about an exemption for the struggling producer to be included in the agreement following three hours of talks on Friday.
It would be ironic if Iran – which has been blamed, along with Saudi Arabia and Russia, for triggering the collapse in oil prices due to the sanctions ‘exemptions’ on its oil exports extended by the US – ends up killing the deal, because the only less-desirable outcome for oil markets than a ‘baseline’ cut scenario would be ‘no deal’.
Oil prices are all over the place as the perceived prospects for a deal change with each new headline.
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