Oil Heavyweights Look Ready for a Showdown
Saudi Arabia and Russia don’t agree on how to approach faltering oil demand. We’ve already seen where such a standoff can lead.
Oil producers face some tough choices as demand recovery falters.
Photographer: David McNew/Hulton ArchiveOil producers could be set for another showdown before the end of the year, with heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia holding different views on how to approach the halting recovery in oil demand.
Renewed restrictions on travel and social gatherings across Europe, along with the tapering of state support packages for companies, are having a chilling effect on demand for crude, just as the OPEC+ group of oil producers, who cut production by a record 9.7 million barrels a day in May, begin to contemplate the next easing of limits on their output. We should all remember what happened last time they couldn’t agree on what to do.