OPEC+ plays with a straight bat

The oil alliance’s decision to keep to the plan amid tightening economic fundamentals seems to have been lost in the global geopolitical maelstrom, misplaced market speculation and haze of conjecture

Whenever OPEC+ goes against the prevailing consensus, the reactions are usually either that the oil alliance has got it wrong or that a message is being sent, or else a conspiracy theory is cooked up. All three themes, along with inevitable price action that goes along with signalling more barrels will re-enter the market, have reverberated across an oil world that has totally missed the point: OPEC+ knows best. The eight OPEC+ producers that agreed to additional voluntary output cuts in April and November 2023 said they would proceed with their previously agreed plan to gradually roll back the November 2023 target reductions. The total of 2.2m b/d equates to a month-on-month rise in April o