OPEC+ Talks Hit Turbulence as Saudis Agitate Over Output Levels

The OPEC+ meeting scheduled for this weekend looked to be running into trouble as Saudi Arabia expressed dissatisfaction with other members about their oil production levels.

As of Wednesday morning, it looked like the OPEC+ conference could be delayed for an unspecified period of time, delegates said. Saudi Arabia, which has been making an additional 1 million barrel-a-day output cut since July, was in difficult talks with other members about their production levels, delegates said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are looking at an increasingly bearish picture for oil prices. Crude is down 15% from its September peak to about $82 a barrel in London, defying expectations that production cuts would cause a rapid tightening in markets. The outlook for next year looks even weaker, with predictions of a first-half surplus if the cartel sticks to its current policies.

Saudi Arabia probably wants higher prices, and will press fellow OPEC+ members to join its recent output cutbacks, Pierre Andurand, the renowned oil trader and founder of Andurand Capital Management, said in an interview with Bloomberg television earlier on Wednesday.

Riyadh may reverse its unilateral 1 million barrel-a-day curb — which its energy minister describes as a “lollipop” — if its counterparts don’t contribute further to the supply reductions, Andurand said.