DESPERATION OF SAUDI ARABIA

Indeed, the country’s own energy minister told a conference audience in Houston last week that Saudi Arabia refused to be “used” by others.
Clearly, this is aimed at both oil producers within OPEC’s own ranks and elsewhere. Non-OPEC producers that also signed on to the agreement to cut, notably Russia, aren’t yet delivering the goods (or rather still delivering too many of them).
Yet Saudi Arabia likely hopes U.S. shale producers — which didn’t collapse as expected in the crash and got back to work unnervingly quickly after oil went back above $50 a barrel — are also listening. Indeed, OPEC members met with shale producers in Houston last week for talks about the market. For OPEC, that’s a sign of desperation; for the latter, it’s something they should think twice about repeating if they value public support for their industry.