12-06-2015, 11:22 PM
An internal OPEC document written to prepare a crucial meeting Friday warns oil prices will remain under pressure in the near future while markets would remain oversupplied even if the cartel cut its production.
OPEC Internal Report Warns Oil Prices to Remain Depressed - WSJ
Cash-strapped OPEC nations from Venezuela to Iran are piling pressure on Saudi Arabia to reduce oil output, yet the group’s biggest producer insists it will only do so if countries outside the organization join the effort. A year after Saudi Arabia spearheaded OPEC’s policy decision to maintain production amid slumping oil prices; the group is grappling with crude near a six-year low as supply overwhelms demand. Venezuela and Ecuador want OPEC to agree to output curbs on Friday when members meet in Vienna, officials said this week. Iran has called on the group to trim production to accommodate its own output increase next year.
OPEC states push for oil curbs as Saudis insist on global effort
China's renewing of its oil purchase deals with Iran not only provides a boost to the Islamic Republic's hopes of re-establishing itself in global markets, it also underscores why this week's OPEC meeting is largely irrelevant. The market consensus is that Friday's gathering of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) won't produce any significant change in the group's output policy. This is notwithstanding some apparent tentative signals from top producer Saudi Arabia that it may consider cutting output, as long as the rest of OPEC and major non-OPEC countries such as Russia also trim output. While this idea appears stillborn, given Russian opposition, the renewing of an oil purchase agreement between Iran and China is more significant, as it shows why any moves to curtail global output are doomed to fail in the current environment.
COLUMN-China's Iran deal shows OPEC members are cutthroat competitors: Russell | Reuters
The House passed the Energy and Commerce Committee's broad energy legislation this morning, sending the Senate a bill aimed at modernizing the electric grid and speeding natural gas exports.