The 8th OPEC+ International Seminar opened today in Vienna. The two-day event takes place in the wake of both Saudi Arabia and Russia, on July 3, announcing the extension of their voluntary cutback of their oil production by 1,000,000 and 500,000 barrels per day, respectively. This amounts to about a decrease of 1.5% of world oil production. The tight cohesion of the two countries on these matters beginning last fall shocked Westerners, and in particular the Biden administration.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, speaking at the special introductory session, made a point of praising the Saudi-Russian meeting of the minds. “It is quite telling seeing us on Monday coming out with not only our extension” of the oil production cut, “but also with validation from the Russian side” in their corresponding action. He said that there was deep cooperation between the two countries. “It is a voluntary cut; it was not mandatory, which shows their commitment.” And he added: “In the last move this week, yes, we are all continuing with our voluntary cut, but again, part of what we have had done with our colleagues from Russia was also to mitigate the cynical side of spectators about what was going on with Saudi Arabia and Russia.”
OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais will address today’s opening ceremony. He will be joined by Antonio Oburu Ondo, the energy minister of Equatorial Guinea, which holds the OPEC Presidency this year. Some notable roundtable participants include Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French oil major TotalEnergies, Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s energy giant Aramco, and Mohamed Hamel, secretary general of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, an intergovernmental organization based in Doha.
Of some note, OPEC has canceled accreditation for U.S. media reporters, freezing them out of the event. Earlier Western media outlets had been excluded from the OPEC+ ministerial meetings in early June.
