Oil negotiators race against clock to clinch historic deal

A global deal to cut oil supply and stem a historic price rout hung in the balance on Sunday as negotiators raced to find an agreement with just hours to go until the market opens.

Diplomatic wrangling between Mexico and Saudi Arabia entered a fourth day as neither side was willing to concede, even as the U.S. stepped up the pressure and tried to broker a compromise. In a sign that time is running out, the Kremlin warned of “unmanageable chaos” if negotiations fail.

“The whole world needs this deal,” Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesperson of President Vladimir Putin, said in comments broadcast on Sunday.

The stakes are high: Prices are already collapsing under the weight of an oil glut that amounts to about a third of the market’s usual size, after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the global economy.