“There will be a lot of people who they have disappointed,” said Bill Farren-Price, chief executive of Petroleum Policy Intelligence, a British firm that advises hedge funds and other businesses on the oil markets. The oil exporters, he said, “raised expectations.”

A major stumbling block in the talks appears to have been pressure from Saudi Arabia for Iran to participate in the freeze, a measure to address the current global oversupply of oil. The Iranians, who are rapidly increasing production after the end of most sanctions over their nuclear program, have refused to cap production at current low levels.

The oil producers seemed to head into the meeting full of confidence that a deal to stabilize oil markets could be reached. In fact, a draft agreement calling for a freeze at January levels through October was circulated Saturday.

Talk of a potential freeze had already helped lift the oil markets from their January lows below $30 per barrel to about $43 per barrel for Brent crude. “I think at least the discussion and expectations around the Doha meeting have contributed to higher prices,” Eric Lascelles, chief economist at RBC Global Asset Management, said in an interview before the meeting.

A deal was unlikely to quickly change the amount of oil on the market because most participants in the freeze were pumping at high levels. And the failure is unlikely to have much of an impact on supply and demand balances.