Sino Link Japan comment on Iran & Saudi failing to agree on production cap, as crude drops

After it became apparent that major oil producing nations Iran and Saudi Arabia were stalling in their negotiations to freeze crude production, oil prices plummeted 5 percent in the Friday morning session.

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Sino Link Japan

Oct 10, 2016, 12:21 ET

CENTRAL LONDON, England, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Other important factors also weighed heavily on investor mood such as decreased equity prices in New York and other global stock markets, and also data revealing the U.S. was about to add the most number of oil rigs since the bottom fell out of the crude market in 2014.

Crude began to drop after insider sources close to Saudi Arabia leaked rumours that the world's biggest oil producing nation was not confident that the OPEC meeting in Algeria towards the end of the month will yield any definitive agreements on how to address the crude glut issue.

"The Saudis are not looking at the OPEC meeting this month as an official summit," said Elliot Parker, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Sino Link Japan in a phone interview. "They don't feel that any policies are going to be decided next week and that has filtered down to the trading floors."

There was a brief news story earlier in the day on the subject as Reuters reported that both Iran and Saudi Arabia were seriously considering a freeze on production, and the markets reacted with a moderate rally. In the weeks leading up to the OPEC talks oil prices have fluctuated and the end of week morning session was a cautious one.

Oil investors could have been forgiven for splashing after a federal report revealed nearly four consecutive weeks of declining crude inventories; however, the looming OPEC talks are still keeping sentiment in check and that isn't likely to change until the start of next month.

Crude has been held in the forty to fifty dollar range due to low U.S. stocks and the output spike. OPEC's latest comments have perpetuated that trend.

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