Oil prices erased earlier gains and moved firmly lower in Friday morning trade, after a report the Iranian oil minister won’t attend a highly anticipated meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.Crude oil lost 1.3% to $40.99 a barrel, while Brent oil dropped 0.9% to $43.46. Oil prices have been volatile this week in the run-up to the Sunday meeting when major oil producers will discuss whether to freeze oil production. Reports across Twitter citing Bloomberg said on Friday Iran would send its OPEC governor instead of its oil minister, which triggered a slump in prices. Iran has rejected calls for an output freeze, arguing it wants to return to pre-sanction levels before reining in production. The world’s largest oil producer Saudi Arabia has signaled it won’t agree to any deal in Doha unless Iran also signs. “We are running out of news to support a further appreciation ahead of the meeting on Sunday. Following a strong rally this past couple of weeks it makes sense to take some chips of the table ahead a meeting which has been high on promises but could end up being low on delivery,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, in emailed comments.
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