Oil minister leaving OPEC meeting sparks unfounded fears that talks stalled

As the world was awaiting the results of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting, a minister leaving the room during negotiations might have spelled doom for the deal.

However, on Friday evening, the oil producing countries finally reached a long-anticipated deal to cut crude output by 1.2 million barrels, triggering oil an price jump of nearly 5 percent.

In the final hour of the meeting, it was initially reported that Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih was spotted outside the negotiation room, sparking fears that negotiations failed. It later occurred that the early escapee was Kuwait’s oil minister Ali Khalifa Al Sabah.

Kuwait had earlier voiced support for OPEC attempts to keep the oil markets afloat and said it hopes the final deal would serve the interest of all oil producers.

OPEC’s main oil producer, Saudi Arabia, had been trying to strike a deal on production cuts at the two-day talks in Vienna, Austria, before the final deal was made. Some countries, including Iran, were at first reluctant to greenlight the proposed plan, reportedly asking to grant it an exemption.

As the talks stalled, Iran later reportedly agreed to cut oil output by around 800,000 barrels per day from 2019, Reuters said.

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