Oil prices are set to plunge again, reports quartz.com. Oil producers gathered in Doha this weekend in an attempt to freeze production in the glutted crude oil market. With the news of the proposed production freeze, oil prices had recently soared by more than 30%. But the various oil interests failed to reach an agreement. As a result, oil prices opened down more than 5% in Asian trading. And the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropped immediately down to $38 a barrel.
The producers at the meeting included Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait, and other OPEC members, but did not include Iran. They tried throughout the day on Sunday, but were unable to strike a deal.
Oil prices have been spiraling downward for almost two years. The plummeting prices came as Saudi Arabia, in the wake of the US shale boom, refused to cut its own production levels and make room in the market for American oil drillers.