The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries faces a critical moment in its 60-year history with the coronavirus crushing crude demand and prices, discord among its members, and threats from a world seeking cleaner fuels.
The Vienna-based institution convenes for regular meetings to assess the state of supply and demand in the marketplace, and its pronouncements can still spark major price swings. That ability has dimmed in recent years however, prompting it to join forces with ten non-Opec producers including Russia to curb their collective output. Opec+ essentially wanted to counter surging energy supplies from shale rock in the United States and help clear a stubborn supply glut on world markets.
"They are slightly less influential compared to the past, also due to production of non-Opec countries and new extraction techniques. But I still see a role for Opec," he told AFP. After the unprecedented market crash, Opec+ in May slashed up to a fifth of its output – a move that triggered a sharp rebound in crude prices to current levels around US$40 per barrel.