Brent >120 Karoon = ?, page-17

bbc.com 8.6.22

Very detailed article on why Opec+ group of nations is unable, or refusing, to lift oil production- thus analysts expect oil prices to remain very high for the near future.

"Saudi and the UAE have spare capacity, but they are refusing to increase output on their own," says Kate Dourian. "They don't want to be dictated to by the West.

"They are saying that the gap between supply and demand is narrowing, and that today's high prices simply reflect panic on the part of oil buyers."

Other Opec+ nations are struggling to increase output.

"

"Oil Producers like Nigeria and Angola have been undershooting their production quotas by a collective million barrels a day over the past year," says David Fyfe.

"Investment fell off during the pandemic - and oil installations, in some cases, haven't been well maintained. Now, they're discovering they can't actually deliver production increases in full."

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption,

Russia's Vladimir Putin and Opec's secretary general Mohammad Barkindo

What does Russia want?

Opec+ also has to respect Russia's wishes, since it is one of the two biggest partners in the alliance.

"The Russians are happy with prices at this level," says Carole Nakhle, CEO of Crystol Energy. "They have nothing to gain in seeing them go lower.

"Opec wants to keep good relations with Russia, so they are most likely to continue with the agreement they all made last year. That means increasing crude supplies very gradually from now until September

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61188579