Nigeria has urged Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members to find a consensus on a freeze on oil production after talks among producers collapsed in Qatar on Sunday, the oil ministry said on Monday.
A deal to freeze oil output by OPEC and non-OPEC producers fell apart on Sunday after Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran to join in despite calls on Riyadh to save the agreement and help prop up crude prices, Reuters reported.
“We are just going to work on it,” Reuters quoted Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, as saying in a statement issued by his ministry.
“It is a supply and demand issue and we need to consult and bring everybody into the circle and thank God that a committee is now in place to try and work towards getting everybody on board,” he said.
Nigeria has been in the forefront of trying to get a consensus among producers to freeze output as a slump in oil revenues has hit its public finances and currency.