Saudi Arabia’s decision to have OPEC+ stop using statistics from the West’s energy watchdog reflected concerns over US influence on the figures, according to people close to the situation, further straining ties between Riyadh and Washington.
OPEC+, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, has so far rebuffed Western efforts to increase supply in order to cut oil prices, which are now hovering around $100 per barrel.
The topic is tricky since rising energy prices, fueled in part by Russia’s war in Ukraine, have fueled inflation, and US President Joe Biden is under pressure to decrease record gasoline prices ahead of November’s mid-term elections.
Any willingness on the part of Riyadh and its allies to assist the US has been eroded as Washington has failed to address Gulf concerns about Iran at the Vienna nuclear talks, has ended its support for a Saudi-led coalition’s offensive operations in Yemen, and has imposed conditions on US weapons sales to Gulf states.
Furthermore, Biden has avoided dealing directly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler.
In this context, an OPEC+ technical meeting in March concluded with a unanimous agreement to stop using the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) data for assessing the status of the oil market.
Saudi Arabia and Russia co-chaired the summit, which was also attended by Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela, according to reports.
The decision is mostly symbolic, since OPEC+ could always choose which of the six non-OPEC sources it utilises to create its perspective of the oil market’s supply and demand balance.
The fact that it formally discarded the data shows OPEC+’s unhappiness with the IEA’s bias towards its biggest member, the United States, according to six sources.
Saudi Arabia and Russia co-chaired the summit, which was also attended by Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela, according to reports.
The decision is mostly symbolic, since OPEC+ could always choose which of the six non-OPEC sources it utilises to create its perspective of the oil market’s supply and demand balance.
The fact that it formally discarded the data shows OPEC+’s unhappiness with the IEA’s bias towards its biggest member, the United States, according to six sources.
According to Reuters, the IEA’s data analysis is politically unbiased.
In an emailed response to inquiries, the IEA stated, ‘The IEA aims to give an unbiased and independent view of oil market fundamentals, and political factors have never been a role in how the agency analyses the market outlook.’
‘The oil market analysis comprises official supply, demand, and inventory data, augmented by estimates when data is unavailable,’ the study stated.
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