After oil producers fail to reach a deal in Doha, where will prices go?

Karim Jaafar | AFP | Getty Images

Venezuelan Petroleum Minister Eulogio del Pino arrives for the oil producers' meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, on April 17, 2016. Countries failed to reach an agreement to freeze output at January levels, which sent oil prices tumbling.

Oil prices took a tumble after some of the world's largest oil exporters failed to reach an agreement in Doha, Qatar, to freeze output to January levels.
In February, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela
had agreed to freeze output if other producers joined them - and Sunday's meeting in Doha was expected to formalize that agreement.

The major sticking point during the meeting was the heightened tension between Saudi Arabia, the defacto OPEC leader, and Iran, which recently returned to the international oil market after sanctions against the country were lifted earlier this year.

US oil cuts losses, settles 1.4 pct lower

Prior to the meeting, Iran made a last-minute decision not to attend. The country has consistently said it would not consider an output freeze or halt until it reached its pre-sanctions level of production.

Cushioning the blow from the failure to reach a deal are signs that the physical supply market may be tightening.

Oil workers in Kuwait started to strike at the weekend to protest cuts to benefits and wages. Reuters reported the strike could have cut Kuwait's oil production from 2.85 million barrels per day to just 1.1 million barrels a day.

In this week's Trader Poll, tell us what's in store for oil.