Source: Some OPEC+ members agree to hold committee meeting May 10

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD, Apr 21 (PRIME) – Several OPEC+ deal members agreed to hold a meeting of the OPEC plus monitoring committee on May 10, a source with knowledge of preparations for the meeting told PRIME late on Monday.

"The meeting is planned. There is no date, it is scheduled for the beginning of May after the OPEC plus deal enters in force. There is preliminary agreement of some members,” the source said.

“Phone contacts of the OPEC secretary general with the members of the deal are planned, consultations about the effect of the agreement on the market and the next steps will be held."

The price of the WTI oil blend with May delivery fell by 162.51% on the New York Mercantile Exchange, (NYMEX) to minus U.S. $11.42 per barrel for the first time in history at 9:33 p.m., Moscow time, on Monday. The price on the ICE exchange dove by 104.11% to minus $0.75. 

On Tuesday at 03:07 a.m., Moscow time, the price of the May WTI futures on the NYMEX grew 160% to $2.21.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that the negative oil prices were short-lived and forecasted a price return to U.S. $25–28 per barrel in a month. Trump said that the U.S. would fill the oil reserves, benefiting from low oil prices and consider stopping buying oil from Saudi Arabia.

Iran Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad that the oil price slump depends on the measures against the coronavirus.

"This situation is natural because we could not control the spread of coronavirus and this led to dead time on the crude market and overfilling of storages, supply is excessive on the market," he told PRIME.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in a Facebook post that the situation with the WTI futures resembled a cartel collusion, "What we see  on oil futures contracts market resembles a cartel collusion in many aspects." Taking into account Russia's gas sales experience, he offered to sell oil under a take-or-pay principle, where a long-term contract is signed and the customer is fined heavily for refusing to take contracted volumes.

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