The Saudis' Pyrrhic Victory Over US Shale
China's Coronavirus (Covid-19) presents OPEC+ with its biggest challenge when they convene during the first week of March. The crisis has widened political ruptures between the OPEC+ heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia. In 4-5 February 2020 the OPEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC) recommended an additional 600,000 b/d production cut in addition to the 1.7 million b/d for the first half of 2020 and then returning back to the production levels of the original agreement. The Saudis support additional cuts while the Russian have a wait & see approach.