Andres Schipani, Andes Correspondent – Financial Times
April 19, 2016

Unplanned production outages are picking up among Opec members with oil prices around $40 a barrel. A workers’ strike in Kuwait and pipeline fire in Nigeria have added to the disruptions that analysts estimate stand at almost 2.8m b/d — the highest level in nearly two years.

The supply issues have provided a powerful prop for the oil price after some of the world’s leading oil producers failed to agree to freeze production — a deal that Venezuela helped bring to the negotiating table in an effort to prop up its finances.

The country’s oil minister Eulogio del Pino has blamed Saudi Arabia for the collapse of the talks, claiming its delegation has “no authority to decide on anything” as they were under strict instructions from Riyadh not to give any ground to Iran, another Opec member.

Read the full Financial Times article here.

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