- In an all but unsurprising move, OPEC+ decided to proceed with its planned 400 MBbl/d supply hike despite international pressure from consumers
- Oil prices settled at a four-week low yesterday, despite the modest hike
- Goldman Sachs says that price volatility is likely to rise in the coming weeks as the U.S., India, Japan, and other consumers develop a response to their shunned effort to strong-arm the cartel into producing more oil
- Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz said after the OPEC+ meeting that “oil is not the problem,” citing natural gas shortages, and said, “the problem is the energy complex is going through havoc and hell.”
- U.S. President Joe Biden is eyeing a potential Strategic Petroleum Reserve release to bring down gasoline prices
- There are currently more than 612 MMBbls in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
- Former U.S. President Obama was the last to release barrels from SPRs and was joined by other countries in the International Energy Agency in response to crude supply disruptions in Libya in 2011
- The U.S. is arguing that OPEC+ is not supplying enough oil to fuel the post-COVID economic recovery