“The decisions that are going to be made in Vienna are going to be more geopolitical this time than normal,” Dan Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit, told CNBC.
OPEC Meeting Concerns
There are concerns that the meeting could breakdown, similar to what happened back in June 2011 when members left Vienna without an agreement in place. Saudi Arabi and Russia have spare capacity to pump out more to take advantage of the current oil market, but other producers, such as Venezuela and Iran, want to maintain current prices to bolster their economy in face of domestic issues.
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“Nonetheless, we could envision a scenario where the meeting proves to be so antagonistic because of deep divisions over production and sanctions that they fail to reach a consensus, leaving big producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia to act on their own,” RBC said in a research note.
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