If any OPEC members have been tempted to cheat on their quotas with oil prices hovering around three-year highs, they have yet to act on it. Higher prices may embolden countries that can to cheat on quotas Saudi discipline, downside risks in unstable nations could cap any gains Vast majority of OPEC spare capacity in Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies And despite pervasive speculation that prolonged elevated prices could encourage members to play loose with their production cut agreement, starting a slippery slope to a bruising marketshare battle with US shale producers, OPEC officials have maintained that such fears are overblown. A closer examination of the organization’s spare production capacity — and where the downside supply risks lie — may lend some backing to their bravado. The US Energy Information Administration, in its Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday, estimated that OPEC’s “surplus crude oil production capacity” – barrels that […]