KONTAN.CO.ID - LONDON. Oil fell after touching its highest since March at more than $40 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by doubts that an early meeting of OPEC and its allies to extend existing output cuts will take place.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have a deal to extend the cuts, but a meeting on Thursday rather than later in June might not happen, sources said. Oil had earlier dropped after Bloomberg reported the Thursday meeting was in doubt.

"Prices were firm so far this week on the news that the meeting was earlier," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix. "The retracement today is definitely due to the latest headlines on OPEC."