Oil prices tumble as OPEC+ pushes back key meeting and Saudi Arabia grows frustrated
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
- Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday as OPEC+ delayed its weekend meeting to November 30.
- Both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude dropped about 4%.
- Saudi Arabia expressed dissatisfaction with other OPEC+ members' production, Bloomberg reported.
Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday as OPEC+ pushed back this weekend's meeting to November 30 amid reports of discord among member countries.
West Texas Intermediate declined 4.24% to $74.47 a barrel, and Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4.27% to $78.93 a barrel. Oil prices have tumbled more than 18% since their peak in September.
Saudi Arabia has expressed dissatisfaction with other OPEC+ members' oil production levels, sources told Bloomberg.
OPEC's de facto leader could reverse its production cut of 1 million barrels a day if others in OPEC+ don't contribute to supply reductions as well, the report said.
In June, OPEC+ asked African nation members Angola, Congo, and Nigeria to take on lower production quotas in 2024 due to softening capacity. Any further production cuts from those already lower levels could prove difficult to adopt, according to Bloomberg.
At the same time, OPEC+ gave the United Arab Emirates a greenlight to slightly ramp up production in January, which the UAE will likely be hesitant to change.
As recently as Friday, global and US oil prices had spiked at the tail end of a week-long slump, with the Financial Times first reporting that Saudi Arabia was in initial talks to prolong its production cuts into next year.
"You should not underestimate the level of anger there is and the pressure leaders in the Gulf feel from their populations to be seen to respond in some manner," a source told the FT on Friday.