OPEC+ Rethinking Oil Production Rampup After Trump Complications
By Julianne Geiger
click here to read this article at Oilprice.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas
OPEC+ is still weighing its Q2 oil production plans, according to eight OPEC+ sources who spoke to Reuters this week—with Trump-incited complications creating an uncertain future for oil market balance.
What’s at stake is OPEC+’s plans to lift oil production beginning in April 2025—something the group normally has to have decided a month prior. Their decision to keep current production quotas steady or to increase as planned will have a profound effect on global oil markets—and not all OPEC+ members are headed into April on the same page, the anonymous sources suggest.
There are essentially two mindsets, with Saudi Arabia—the ever-sober OPEC member known for its conservative production approach even at its own expense—on one side, and the UAE—a member itching to use its space capacity—on the other.
The disconnect between the two has, in the past, called into question the stability of the otherwise tight-knit group, with the UAE rumored to be contemplating its exit from OPEC if it didn’t get to ramp up production at least partially in line with its capacity.
Trump has been vocal about the need for OPEC to ramp up oil production to bring the prices down and stop the war between Russia and Ukraine. “You gotta bring down the oil price,” Trump said earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “That will end that war. You could end that war.”
OPEC wasn’t keen on responding to President Trump’s pressures at the time, nor does it appear to be factoring into their decision now. But Trump’s recent decisions—global tariffs, sanctions on Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, and the US President’s favorable view of the oil industry as opposed to renewables are all making OPEC+’s decisions particularly complex as it attempts to properly manage supply in line with demand.
By Julianne Geiger
click here to read this article at Oilprice.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas