Latin American oil producers may rebalance market

New York

LATIN American crude producers under financial strain may help provide a vehicle for market rebalancing that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members and other oil states failed to deliver at a meeting in Doha on Sunday.

Iran's refusal to discuss a ceiling for its growing output at last weekend's meeting prompted Saudi Arabia to scuttle an agreement that only months ago optimists were betting would gain adherents to redress the worst rout of a generation. "There's no question that Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, are all declining. Clearly, it's the Atlantic Basin that is being hit on the production side, and the rebalancing is well on its way," said Gary Ross, an oil expert and executive chairman of New York consultancy PIRA.