Oil: the suspense continues

Long-awaited, the meeting between OPEC and the other major oil producers, including Russia, which was to be held today to try to reduce the supply of black gold and thereby support prices, has been postponed to Thursday. .

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To stem the fall in crude oil prices, OPEC and its allies are seeking to reach an agreement on a drop in production equivalent to 10% of global demand. Tensions between Moscow, which is not a member of the cartel, and OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, however, remain extremely high, which seems to jeopardize an agreement. The two countries in fact reject the responsibility for the fall in crude oil prices.

Friday, Vladimir Putin once again accused Saudi Arabia of having started the price war by flooding the world market. "The Russian Minister of Energy was the first to declare that all OPEC members would no longer have to respect their commitments to reduce production from April 1, which prompted these countries to increase their production, ” replied Ryad.

In the first quarter, with the collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus, crude oil prices literally collapsed. The phenomenon was accentuated by a price war between several producing countries. A barrel of brent has lost almost 70% of its value. It fell below $ 22 a barrel in late March. The United States, which has relied heavily on shale oil, which is particularly expensive to produce, is also in difficulty.

US President Donald Trump has stepped up to the plate in recent days so that an agreement can finally be reached between producer countries on a reduction in supply. The meeting scheduled for Monday had caused a sharp rebound in crude prices in recent days. Brent crude rose to almost $ 35 a barrel on Friday. The sticking point is above all "the quantity that each producer will be ready to take for him", explains a specialist. The Gulf countries would also like the United States to also commit to reducing their production.