Page 6 - MEOG Week 48

MEOG POLICY MEOG

OPEC rift

delays talks

with partners

OPEC DISAGREEMENT between members of the of OPEC’s most loyal members, it has recently
OPEC cartel has led to the delay of the planned shown its determination to ramp up oil output
meeting with the wider OPEC+ group. and is thought to have been mulling its departure
The Monday meeting in Vienna is under- from the cartel in order to hold greater sway over
stood to have lasted long into the evening, with production levels. Delegates told Bloomberg that
tensions flaring about the future of cuts that the OPEC is insisting that those with historic
sought to prop up oil prices which dropped on non-compliance, including the UAE and to a
news of the delay. greater extent Iraq and Nigeria, commit to full
The OPEC+ meeting will now take place on compliance before proceeding with a deal.
December 3, with informal discussions between Given that Iraqi output has been growing
OPEC members expected to continue in the rather than dropping in accordance with prom-
background until then. With concerns growing ised compensatory cuts, this is highly unlikely to
among members about the peak of oil demand, be achieved. In a move to appease Abu Dhabi,
OPEC producers possessing some of the world’s the UAE was apparently offered the opportunity
largest reserves have grown anxious about ramp- to co-chair the OPEC+ monitoring committee,
ing up the speed of extraction. but this was rejected.
Bloomberg quoted ministerial sources as say- The OPEC+ meeting had been anticipated to
ing that consensus was at one point close, only see agreement reached on whether to extend the
for Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdu- current 7.7mn barrel per day production cuts
laziz bin Salman Al-Saud to threaten to resign as which are due to be eased by 2mn bpd in Jan-
co-chair of an OPEC+ panel in frustration. uary, with Saudi Arabia a key proponent of the
While the UAE has historically been one extension.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 02•December•2020