OPEC cancels April meeting, leaving price-boosting oil output cuts in place through June

OPEC and other major oil producers on Monday canceled a meeting planned for April, a move that leaves the alliance's price-boosting production cuts in place until at least June.

The group is delaying its decision because it expects the oil market to remain oversupplied through the first half of the year, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said at a committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. The delay also allows the producers to assess how U.S. sanctions on OPEC-members Iran and Venezuela will affect the oil market in the coming months, several news agencies reported.

The 14-nation OPEC and a group of countries led by Russia launched a second round of production cuts in January after a glut of oil hit the market and crude prices collapsed at the end of 2018. The group first began slashing production in 2017, but lifted supply caps last June as oil prices rose toward nearly four-year highs and the U.S. prepared to sanction Iran, then OPEC's third biggest producer.

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