Three Takeaways From This Week’s OPEC meeting
By experts and staff
- Published
- Blake ClaytonAdjunct Fellow for Energy
OPEC ministers met in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss the current oil market outlook and make a decision about future production levels, as well as to select a new secretary general. After deliberating, the group opted not to alter the current production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day (though they are currently pumping more than that). Nor could they agree on a replacement for the current secretary general, Abdalla Salem el-Badr, a Libyan national, choosing instead to extend his tenure an additional year starting next month.
As with any OPEC meeting, what was not decided—and at times not even mentioned, at least publicly—can be as revealing as what was. So what did this week’s events tell us? Here are three quick takeaways: