SINGAPORE: Oil extended its decline in Asia Tuesday as hopes that major crude producers will freeze output to ease a world surplus faded, sending Brent crude back below $40.
A meeting proposed by Russia and Saudi Arabia to discuss output limits has been pushed back to April from March 20, after signs some key producing nations do not support the move.
Iran has said it would not join the effort until its own crude production reached pre-sanction levels of 4.0 million barrels per day, about double its current output.
At about 0330 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April was down 23 cents to $36.95 and Brent for May was down 29 cents to $39.24 a barrel.
WTI slumped 3.4 percent and Brent eased 2.1 percent on Monday, giving up gains that saw the global benchmark break $40 a barrel for the first time this year last week.
“I remain sceptical on any such supply talks as the probability of any definitive action is unlikely to be high,” said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets Singapore.
