Saudis Dig-In for Shale Battle as OPEC and Its Allies Extend Cuts to 2020

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s ruling producer, will keep doing the heavy lifting as the cartel and its allies have been all but pressured to extend their effort to counter the U.S. shale boom right into a fourth year.

In a gathering on Tuesday, OPEC and ten non-members including Russia rubber-stamped the cartel’s earlier determination to continue manufacturing limits for an additional nine months. In addition, they adopted a charter placing the OPEC+ coalition on a more stable hold.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo mentioned the organization could now last for “eternity.”

For all of the expressions of unity, one nation mattered over the others.

Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih called a news conference on Monday night to say the dominion was keen to keep reducing more deeply than its quota needs.

Al-Falih, who in 2016 prompt supply reductions by Saudi Arabia, Russia, and different producers in the OPEC+ coalition would merely be needed for six months, seems increasingly slowed down in a battle to hold control of the global oil market from the U.S. shale sector. He expects to win but acknowledged it would take a very long time.

Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s power and industry minister, left, speaks while Manuel Quevedo, Venezuela’s petroleum minister and president of OPEC, listens at a press conference following the 176th OPEC assembly in Vienna, Austria, on Monday, July 1, 2019. OPEC will prolong production cuts into 2020 as the world’s leading oil exporters rub about a plunging outlook for global demand progress and the relentless rise in output from America’s shale sector.

OPEC partners could be in for a decade-long battle. U.S. shale output will continue to grow until the early 2030s, in accordance with estimates from Rystad Energy A/S, an Oslo-based advisor that has been a firm believer in the American energy growth.