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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery lost 58 cents to $39.78 on the New York Merc, while Brent for June lost 19 cents to $42.91 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.75 to WTI ($26.03), up from a discount of $14.80. Natural gas for May added 3.8 cents to $1.94. The TSX energy index added 2.13 points to close at 177.70.

At yesterday's meeting in Doha, Qatar, efforts by global major oil producers to reach a production-freezing agreement proved fruitless. The failure was not entirely a surprise, and even if the meeting had ended in a successful agreement, it would not have had much practical effect anyway: It would have had to exempt countries such as Iran, and it would almost certainly have contained no enforcement mechanisms. Even so, the failure revived industry fears of another bloody battle for market share. Nerves became even more strained after Saudi Arabia -- which essentially torpedoed the Doha talks by insisting that Iran join the freeze -- warned that it might actually raise its production. Deputy Crown Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia could immediately hike its output to 11.5 million barrels a day (a 1.3-million-barrel-a-day increase from March) and could get to 12.5 million barrels a day in six to nine months "if we wanted to."

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