Oil TUMBLES 5% on Doha deal disappointment

Oil prices tumbled more than 5 percent after the world's largest oil-producing countries failed to strike an output freeze deal.

A deal between nearly 20 of the world's largest oil exporters had been hoped to formalize an ouput freeze at January levels. But optimism of an agreement was hit after Iran made a last minute decision not to attend and OPEC's defacto leader Saudi Arabia vowed not to halt or freeze production unless other major producers did the same.

U.S. crude futures were down 5.6 percent at $38.10 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent futures fell 5.66 percent at $40.66.

Oil prices had recovered in recent weeks from their multi-year lows, having fallen below $30 in February in a market awash with supply.

Some analysts pointed to the geo-political dynamic in the Middle East as a likely reason for the failure of the deal.

Angus Nicholson, a market analyst, at IG pointed out in a note that Saudi Arabia had little inclination to "freeze their own production and make way for newly sanctions-free Iran to increase their market share," given the proxy wars the two countries are fighting in Yemen and Syria-Iraq.

Iran has consistently maintained that it would not consider freezing or reducing production level until it regained market share, following the lifting of international sanctions in January.

- http://www.cnbc.com/