Saudis Offer Carrot and Stick to Get OPEC to Defend Oil Prices - Bloomberg

Saudis Offer Carrot and Stick to Get OPEC to Defend Oil Prices - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia, the dominant force in OPEC, is using both stick and carrot to talk other members of the oil cartel into defending prices at Thursday’s ministerial meeting.

Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, in Vienna for his first meeting since taking the top job, is willing to raise production slightly if other countries keep failing to meet their existing output target, according to OPEC delegates. The potential reward for complying: Riyadh will lead the way in deepening curbs.

The outcome of the meeting remained open on Wednesday evening as OPEC officials shuttled between sit-downs in the suites of luxury hotels. The precise terms of any proposed deal were unclear. Iraq, the country with the poorest track record complying with the pact, had talked about a production cut of 400,000 barrels a day, but later on Wednesday the minister said instead he favored an extension of the current plan, which expires in March 2020, until the end of next year.