"The OPEC + format has not exhausted itself despite its alleged inability to reach a consensus at its last meeting. Experts agree that the common goals of its participants, which brought them together in the first place, continue to be relevant. They are the intent to jointly regulate the oil market and stop oil prices from entering a free-fall", Ibrahim Ahmedov said.
He said the OPEC+ group, which includes OPEC members and their allies, such as Azerbaijan and Russia, would likely return to talks on deeper output cuts. He added that some oil producers apparently wanted lower oil prices to put a damper on shale oil exporters.
"Some participants probably see a dip in oil prices as useful. As it was back in 2014, the goal appears to be putting pressure on non-conventional oil producers, such as… shale oil producers, because their break-even point starts at a higher price than that of conventional oil producers", Ahmedov suggested.
OPEC+ issued a statement after Friday’s talks, saying it would continue consultations to stabilise the oil market, without mentioning the deeper cuts. Analysts said Russia’s hesitation to deepen production cuts was probably related to concerns that it would lose more market share to US shale oil drillers, who were not members of OPEC+ and were producing at record highs.
