Oil hits $40, cools off as doubts emerge over next step on Opec cuts

Oil fell after touching its highest since March at more than $40 a barrel on Wednesday, as doubts emerged about the timing and scale of a potential extension to the oil supply pact between Opec and its allies.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have a deal to extend the cuts by a month, but a policy meeting on Thursday rather than later in June is unlikely, sources said. Oil earlier dropped after Bloomberg reported that the Thursday meeting was in doubt.

“Prices were firm so far this week on the news that the meeting was earlier,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix. “The retracement today is definitely due to the latest headlines on Opec.”