The "God of Crude Oil Trading" warns that if further production cuts are not supported, Saudi Arabia may resume supply and lower oil prices to retaliate. Both oils plummeted during the day.
According to foreign media reports, due to Saudi Arabia's dissatisfaction with the oil production levels of other member countries, the OPEC meeting scheduled for this weekend seems to have encountered trouble before it even started.
Some participants said that the OPEC meeting might be delayed, but the specific time is undetermined. It is reported that since July, Saudi Arabia has reduced production by an additional 1 million barrels per day, and the country is in difficult negotiations with other member countries on production levels.
Since the discussions are private, insiders have requested anonymity. Upon hearing the news, the decline in WTI and Brent crude oil prices widened, both falling by more than 4% during the day.
OPEC and its allies are watching the increasingly pessimistic outlook for oil prices. The price of Brent crude oil has fallen by more than 15% from its peak in September, dropping to around $80 per barrel on Wednesday, which is contrary to the expectation that production cuts will quickly tighten the market.
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The outlook for oil prices next year appears even weaker, with expectations that there will be a surplus of oil supply in the first half of the year if OPEC+ adheres to its current policy.
Therefore, analysts predict that OPEC+ may extend or even deepen supply restrictions at the upcoming meeting until next year.
Among them, the renowned crude oil futures trader Pierre Andurand, known as the "God of Crude Oil Trading," said in a media interview on Wednesday that OPEC+ may need to announce further production cuts this weekend to offset the surprisingly strong supply growth in the United States and other regions, and Saudi Arabia will urge other OPEC+ member countries to join in the production cuts.
Andurand said that this year, U.S. oil production has increased by about 700,000 to 800,000 barrels per day compared to initial expectations.
At the same time, as the United States relaxes sanctions, Iran's supply has recovered, and Russia's exports have remained stable due to Moscow's disregard for its OPEC+ commitments.Therefore, he predicted that Saudi Arabia and its partners might need to announce new measures when they meet on Sunday. If other OPEC+ countries do not assist Saudi Arabia, the country may retaliate by flooding the market with supply and lowering prices.
The Saudi Energy Minister described his unilateral additional production cut of 1 million barrels per day as a "lollipop."
However, coordinating a collective reduction in production among multiple countries might be challenging to arrange. In recent years, due to insufficient investment and political crises, the production capacity of most OPEC+ member countries has been declining, leaving little room to suppress significant oil export revenues by further reducing supply.
Andurand stated that he has revised his earlier expectations for oil prices to climb to $140 per barrel since earlier this year, and he does not have a strong view on the outlook for the crude oil market for next year, considering the current prospects of the crude oil market to be "very balanced."