Crude oil futures down 5% after producer deal falls apart

[SINGAPORE] Crude oil futures were down more than 5 per cent in early Asian trading on Monday after a meeting by major producers in Qatar fell apart on Sunday, leaving the world awash with unwanted fuel.

International benchmark Brent crude futures were trading at US$40.87 per barrel at 2336 GMT, down 5.2 per cent since their last settlement.

US crude futures were down 5.5 per cent at US$38.16 a barrel.

Some 18 oil exporting nations, including non-Opec Russia, had gathered in the Qatari capital of Doha for what was expected to be the rubber-stamping of a deal to stabilise output at January levels until October 2016.

But the deal fell apart after Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran join in despite calls on Riyadh to save the agreement and help prop up crude prices.

"The failure is negative from the psychological point of view. It shows the inability of all sides to cooperate," said Gary Ross, the founder and executive chairman at New York-based consultancy PIRA.

Amrita Sen from Energy Aspects said the outcome "has a huge negative impact on sentiment, especially as the deal had been hyped up so much."

REUTERS