OPEC+ Meeting Preview: Will Saudi Arabia Balk Or Stick To The Plan? – Investing.com

OPEC+ Meeting Preview: Will Saudi Arabia Balk Or Stick To The Plan? – Investing.com

As it's the weekend, it's a good time to look ahead to a key event early next week: Tuesday's OPEC-JMMC meeting.

The cartel and its allies will gather to evaluate the latest developments in the global markets, and the surge in prices to test multi-year highs will not go unnoticed, especially with this weekend marking the beginning of the traditional "summer driving season“ in the US.

Last month, the group agreed to gradually raise daily oil production by 350k barrels in May, 350k barrels in June and by 441k barrels in July, with Saudi Arabia producing an additional 250k barrels in May, by 350k barrels in June and by 400k barrels in July to unwind its earlier voluntary cuts. All told, OPEC+ intends to supply over 1.5M additional barrels of oil by July in addition to the 600k added in May.

As always, the key flashpoint is likely to be tensions between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Russia will undoubtedly push for a more rapid increase in production to support its economy, whereas Saudi Arabia is expected to favor the more conservative path agreed upon last month, citing the ongoing COVID outbreak in India and looming return of Iranian oil to the market