Oil prices fell more than 2% on Friday after top crude exporter Saudi Arabia said it sees no need to hold a summit of producing countries' heads of state if such discussions would fail to produce concrete action toward defending oil prices, sources familiar with the matter said.
The comments followed a meeting of Persian Gulf Arab oil ministers with Qatar's emir in Doha, at which a Venezuelan proposal for an OPEC and non-OPEC summit was discussed, Reuters reported.
"If we are meeting for the sake of meeting, it would backfire," the source said.
Earlier on Thursday, Qatar's energy minister said members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers were studying the Venezuelan proposal. "But we are in the study phase," Qatar's Mohammed al-Sada added.
Brent for October was down $1.05 at $47.84 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate was also down $1.05 at $44.87 a barrel.
