Even a #Saudi-Russia Truce Would Be Too Late to Save OPEC+ Legacy - Bloomberg

Even a Saudi-Russia Truce Would Be Too Late to Save OPEC+ Legacy - Bloomberg:

Even if Riyadh and Moscow ended their fight for oil-market share now, everything they achieved together over three years of OPEC+ would still go up in smoke.

The U.S. has used the build-up to Thursday’s emergency teleconference between leaders of Group of 20 nations to urge a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia, which is chairing the event, and Russia.

Even if President Donald Trump could resolve the conflict between the two exporters -- and Moscow is giving reasons to think he can’t -- the kingdom has already committed to flood the market with crude next month. While a truce could help temper any further price slump, it would be too late to rescue the legacy of the partners-turned-rivals, who until this month had cooperated to keep world oil markets in equilibrium.

Back in 2016, when the Saudis and Russia spearheaded a global alliance of producers known as OPEC+, they were motivated by the desire to clear an oil surplus of 300 million barrels in the industrialized world, which was keeping prices low.