Highlights
The OPEC+ meeting this Sunday was called by Saudi Arabia to chastise other members for pumping more crude oil than they agreed. Russia is at the top of the list of over-producers.
In 1985, OPEC members agreed on production quotas. In early 1986, all OPEC members, except Saudi Arabia, were over-producing. In those days, Saudi Arabia was THE big hammer of crude oil production, bigger than they are now. To show the other OPEC members what real overproduction crude oil would do to the crude market, the Saudis pumped maximum capacity. Within a few months, crude oil dropped from $27 to $6 a barrel ($77 to $17 in 2023 dollars).
Late last week and early this week, some analysts thought OPEC+ members were going to be told on June 4th they would receive the same spanking by the Saudis. That expectation had all but disappeared by yesterday as crude oil prices turned higher, recovering most of the week’s losses despite this week’s inventory report that showed crude oil inventories rose more than expected..