NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Oil slipped from a three-month high amid uncertainty about when a meeting between Saudi Arabia, Russia and other producers to freeze output will occur as Iran seeks to rebuild its exports.

Futures in New York fell as much as 2.8% after Reuters reported that a meeting is unlikely on March 20. The time and date of a meeting among major producers remains uncertain, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday, according to a report from Interfax. Prices briefly rose after the European Central Bank cut all its interest rates and expanded its monthly bond purchases.

"Iran is not committing itself to production cuts and that’s helping push the market lower," said Michael Hiley, head of OTC energy trading at New York-based LPS Partners. "The market’s been hoping that there will be some kind of deal being reached between OPEC and non-OPEC countries."

U.S. benchmark oil has erased this year’s losses as demand rose and U.S. production shows signs of declining. Average motor-fuel consumption the past four weeks was the highest since September, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. oil stockpiles, meanwhile, grew to the highest level since 1930.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell 79 cents, or 2.1%, to $37.50/bbl at 11:48 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $38.29 on Wednesday, the highest close since Dec. 4. Volume of all futures was 24% above the 100-day average.

Fuel Demand

Brent for May settlement lost $1.14, or 2.8%, to $39.93/bbl on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of 77 cents to WTI for May.

Iran has yet to say whether it would participate in a potential pact to freeze production, Reuters reported, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed on Feb. 16 in Doha that they would freeze output if other producers followed suit in an effort to tackle the oversupply.

"The message from Iran has been loud and clear from the beginning that they would not reduce their output," said Harry Tchilinguirian, BNP Paribas SA’s London-based head of commodity markets strategy. "And they are not prepared to freeze output either."

A meeting of Latin American oil producers originally scheduled to take place in Quito, Ecuador, on Friday has been postponed until late March or early April, government news agency Andes reported, citing Oil Minister Carlos Pareja. The gathering was delayed because of scheduling difficulties, according to the report. Pareja said Wednesday that he was seeking regional consensus to cut or freeze oil output.

The ECB cut the rate on cash parked overnight by banks by 10 basis points to minus 0.4%, and its benchmark rate to zero.

U.S. gasoline demand averaged 9.33 MMbpd during the past four weeks, according to an EIA report Wednesday. Supplies of the fuel fell to 250.5 MMbbl. Nationwide crude inventories rose by 3.9 MMbbl to 521.9 MMbbl last week. Output remains near the lowest level since November 2014.