Only a week ago, news surfaced that Saudi officials were quietly hoping to push oil prices up to $80 per barrel , which would help boost the valuation of Saudi Aramco IPO. But why not $100 per barrel? Reuters reports that Riyadh would be fine with prices rising that far, which lends weight to the notion that OPEC will keep the production cuts in place even as its mission to drain surplus oil inventories around the world appears to be largely “ accomplished .” OPEC and its non-OPEC partners are even considering yet another extension that would push the cuts into the middle of 2019. But with inventories back to average levels and expected to fall for the foreseeable future, the production limits would surely push the market into a deficit. The over-tightening, presumably, would lead to higher oil prices…just in time for the Aramco IPO. OPEC just posted […]