IMPROMPTU talks between Saudi Arabia, fellow OPEC member Venezuela and oil powers Russia and Mexico yielded no agreement yesterday on how to address a growing oil glut, ending without any plan to cut output despite a collapse in prices.

    In a day of shuttle diplomacy before OPEC’s output meeting in Vienna on Thursday, energy officials from non-members Russia and Mexico rushed to the Austrian capital to push OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia on the 30 percent price fall since June.

    Saudi has kept the market guessing about its response to crude’s fall amid rapidly rising U.S. shale output, but yesterday’s talks had led to speculation in some quarters that Riyadh might back a coordinated cut involving non-OPEC members.

    Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters after the talks that while all sides agreed current prices were “not good” for producing countries, no coordinated output cuts were arranged yesterday.

    “We discussed the situation in the market, we shared our points of view, we need to keep in contact and we agreed to meet again in three months,” said Ramirez, who until recently was oil minister and president of state oil company PDVSA.

    Venezuela, a noted price hawk, would try for an output agreement within OPEC on Thursday instead, he said.

    Oil prices turned lower after the talks, with international benchmark Brent falling more than US$1 a barrel.

    Igor Sechin, head of Russian state oil company Rosneft and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, arrived in Vienna yesterday amid hints that Moscow could cut output or exports if the producer group did the same. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also attended the four-country meeting.

    “I’d like to highlight that current oil prices are not critical for us. We can postpone some capital-intensive projects,” Sechin told the meeting, according to a Rosneft statement.

    “What is going to happen of course is that it [low prices] will have an impact on the global oil supply,” he said, apparently referring to a possible longer-term drop in output in countries, where oil production is more expensive, including some projects in the United States.

    Oil market watchers are divided on the outcome of OPEC’s Thursday meeting. Predictions range from a large production cut to revive prices to a small reduction, or none at all. (SD-Agencies)