Opec deal falls apart as Russia resists; crude oil prices plunge 7%

VIENNA: OPEC’s plans for deep and prolonged oil cuts were derailed on Friday as non-OPEC Russia refused to support the move arguing that it was too early to predict the impact of a coronavirus outbreak on global energy demand, sources told Reuters.

Failure to secure a deal between OPEC, Russia and other members of an alliance known as OPEC+, which has propped up oil prices since 2016, sent the price of benchmark crude into a tailspin.