The oil-exporting countries are apparently facing a further decline in world production. There are strong overweights, insiders said Friday. In the run-up to the meeting of the so-called OPEC+, which includes countries such as Russia in addition to the regular members, there has been a fuss about the exclusion of individual journalists before the meeting.
Reporters from the Reuters and Bloomberg news agencies and the Wall Street Journal, among others, were refused accreditation, according to a letter of protest from the Association of Foreign Press, the Concordia Press Club and the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) on Friday. “This is an unprecedented step in the history of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,” criticize the three chairmen Ivo Mijnssen, Daniela Kraus and Edgar Schütz in their open letter to the Vienna-based organization. “Almost as worrying is the fact that the OPEC Secretariat appeared to have provided no justification for its decision, making it appear arbitrary.”
The three journalist representatives are calling for a return to the “previous policy of equal access” to OPEC meetings and expressed hope that the protest will also be supported by OPEC host country Austria. OPEC partner Russia recently arrested the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow correspondent and charged him with espionage.
Third subsidy discount in a row?
If another cut is decided over the weekend, it would be the third in a row. As early as October 2022, the countries had agreed to limit production by two million barrels per day. Surprisingly, given the deteriorating economic outlook, several OPEC+ members agreed in April on additional production cuts from May, initially expected to last until the end of the year. Most of these decisions have a direct impact on the oil price. This has fallen from about $120 per barrel (159 litres) to about $70 in the last 12 months. This is painful for countries like Russia, which derive a large part of their income from oil exports.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
