As previously reported, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on a collision course since the recent OPEC+ Vienna meeting. Tehran has openly opposed the OPEC+ oil production increase, but was willing to compromise based on an understanding that OPEC members wouldn’t fall below a 100 percent compliance rate in the existing agreement. At the same time, Saudi Arabia, the largest spare production capacity holder, seemed to be reluctant to flood the market right away. A consensus was found in which OPEC members could produce more by filling the gaps in supply caused by the U.S. sanctions on Iran and falling Venezuelan production. But supply disruptions have been far greater than OPEC had originally prepared for, with the recent force majeur in Libya being an example of that. Some analysts believed that a small OPEC increase would be enough to stabilize the market, without putting extreme pressure on prices. In […]