Russia's Novak dampens hopes of collaboration with OPEC in Istanbul

Key members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia will meet informally in Istanbul on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress, according to the governments of Venezuela and Algeria.

The objective of the meeting is to discuss "implementation of a production freeze" agreed by OPEC members in Algiers last month, and the incorporation of non-OPEC countries into the accord.

OPEC members agreed in Algiers on 28 September to work towards reducing their combined output to 32.5mn-33mn b/d, and set up a committee representing all members to work out the modalities of implementing the decision and dividing the cut among producers. The committee will make recommendations to the next OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna on 30 November.

The possible collaboration among OPEC and Russia combined with continual decline in U.S. crude inventories buoyed U.S. oil prices to close above the $50/brl level for the first time since June.

However, Russian energy minster Novak was on the wires earlier today, via Bloomberg, coming out with quite a surprising statement that he doesn't see accord reached with OPEC in Istanbul. WTI crude was trading slightly weaker on the day, down 0.44 pct at 50.32 at around 11:00 GMT.