OPEC data indicates oil inventories in the developed world rose by 3.3 million barrels month-on-month in March, and were 22.8 million barrels above their five-year average. A gathering of the so-called Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in Saudi Arabia over the weekend did not make any solid recommendations, leaving a decision on policy for a meeting of OPEC and its allies next month in Vienna. “While not explicitly mentioned in the statement (of the JMMC), uncertainty on how many Iranian and Venezuelan oil barrels will be lost due to US sanctions was probably the main reason the group kicked the can down the road,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. OPEC, Russia and other non-member producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from Jan. 1 for six months to try to prevent inventories from increasing and weakening prices.