When Iran’s oil minister stormed out of an OPEC confab on Thursday night, the alliance of producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia was in danger of losing control of the market.
Less than 24 hours later, they had reasserted their authority-- for now. Prices that had breached $80 a barrel in the run-up to the meeting, prompting public admonishment from U.S. President Donald Trump, traded back at $75.
Friday’s agreement was a fudge in the time-honored tradition of OPEC, committing to boost output without saying which countries would increase or by how much. It gives Saudi Arabia the flexibility to respond to disruptions at a time when U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela threaten to throw the oil market into turmoil.
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