OPEC Meetings May Provide Economic Answers—or Just More Questions

Dec 4, 2019
Also available in
OPEC flag
About the Authors
Simon Henderson
Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Articles & Testimony

Amid Saudi stock sell-offs, Russian production limits, U.S. tariff showdowns, and a flurry of other factors, the potential impact of the cartel’s Vienna meetings is difficult to predict.

Making a bet on the outcome of this week’s meetings is only for fools or those with the calmest temperament and the deepest pockets. Where is the U.S. economy heading, especially in the absence of a tariff agreement with China? An additional twist is that if the price of oil increases, exploiting American shale oil reserves becomes viable. The key figure is oil around $60 per barrel. Below that, shale production is likely to fall. Anything above, and the extra oil flows. These sort of arguments have swirled in advance of previous OPEC meetings, but this time there is a special extra factor. Thursday marks the completion of the partial sell-off of the Saudi state oil company, Saudi Aramco. Riyadh will want to depict the IPO, as the process is known, as a resounding success. The reality is almost the opposite...

Read the full article on the Hill website.

The Hill

To top

Recommended