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Grand Oil Bargain Is Victim of Saudi Arabia's Iran Fixation

  • Saudi Arabia's Naimi insisted all OPEC members must sign
  • Tehran officals decided on Friday they wouldn't attend summit
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No Deal in Doha: What’s Next For Oil?

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In the end, the outcome of Sunday’s summit of 16 oil ministers at Qatar’s Sheraton hotel turned on one country that wasn’t there.

Iran’s decision, on the eve of the meeting, not to attend signaled things wouldn’t go well. When ministers assembled the next day, Saudi Arabia stunned some of them by insisting every OPEC member, including Iran, must subscribe to the deal to freeze oil production. Scheduled to end with an early afternoon press conference, proceedings dragged into the evening.