Oil Prices Drop 5% after a Delay of OPEC+ Meeting as Saudi and Russia Play a Blame Game

Oil prices dropped by 5% after the OPEC+ meeting scheduled for today was delayed as tension escalated between Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in OPEC, and Russia over who is to blame for the recent collapse in oil prices. Primarily, the meeting had been rescheduled to Thursday.

 

As of 10:10 local time in Thailand, The price of WTI was at $27.11/bbl, dropped $1.23/bbl or 4.34%. Meanwhile, Brent was traded at $33.30/bbl, fell $0.81/bbl or 2.37%.

 

Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin partly blamed Saudi Arabia for the plummet in prices, and Saudi responded with angry statements from the ministers of foreign affairs and energy by returning the accusation back to Russia.

OPEC+ and other oil producers were supposed to have a deep discussion over the falling of oil prices in a meeting today. Production cuts were also expected, but Saudi had made it clear that the country required a “fair agreement”, which implied that everyone had to contribute to this cut, including the U.S.

The U.S. oil industry is divided on whether it could or should contribute to production cuts to stabilize prices. The American Petroleum Industry opposes the idea, saying that a cut would harm the U.S. industry. On the other hand, Ryan Sitton, one of the three members of the Texas Railroad Commission, said that the state would consider participating in a cut to stabilize the price.