OPEC Bans Mainstream Media Groups From Vienna Meeting

OPEC Bans Mainstream Media Groups From Vienna Meeting

The Financial Times reports that OPEC has barred several media groups from attending its crucial production meeting in Vienna this weekend, in a move official said was driven by Saudi Arabia. Reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg News and Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, have been denied invites to Opec’s Vienna headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter.

The ban is unusual and no reason has been given for excluding the media groups. Still, people familiar with the decision said it had been instigated by Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

If it was Russia’s intention to send oil tumbling after its oil minister last week said that OPEC+ has no intentions of cutting production, in the process inviting another round of shorts and bearish CTAs, well mission accomplished: on Wednesday oil tumbled more than 3% following the latest dismal Chinese PMI data, and followed a 4.4% drop on Tuesday the black gold is now on pace for its worst month since November 2021. But the real driver behind the latest dump is the reversal of last week’s speculation that an OPEC+ cut may be coming following a thinly veiled threat by the Saudi energy minister.

Then there