Under Pressure

In anticipation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting next week, both the crude oil and shipping markets are busily trying to assess whether production quotas are likely to see movement. While changes in the stated production quota levels sometimes have little effect on the amount of crude oil seen in the market, decisions made by OPEC serve the important purpose of conveying the Organization’s sentiments toward price and crude oil supply in general. The chart below shows the historic and expected crude oil production capacity for the member countries, including Iraq which is currently not part of the quota system.