OPEC+ Faces Russia Reckoning Despite Effort to Ignore War - Bloomberg video

OPEC+ Faces Russia Reckoning Despite Effort to Ignore War - Bloomberg

OPEC+ is doing its best to ignore the Ukraine war started by one of its leading members, but it may not be able to for much longer.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, oil’s surge beyond $110 a barrel and the resulting mayhem in financial markets barely figured in the cartel’s meeting on Wednesday. The group ratified a 400,000 barrel-a-day production increase that was scheduled for April and wrapped up in a record time of just 13 minutes.

Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle tried to raise the subject of Russia, but other members of the 23-nation coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Moscow swiftly moved on to other matters, delegates said. Nahle confirmed she asked a question about Russia, and that she was satisfied with the response.

“They wanted to duck at this meeting -- the path of least resistance was to stick to the plan,” Bob McNally, head of Washington-based consultant Rapidan Energy Group, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The next meeting on March 31 “is going to be a lot sportier than this one.”