Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
Whether or not the cartel tweaks production quotas at its next meeting, ongoing global crises and the approach of a dark, cold winter in Europe may yet cause economic shudders.
After the drama of the last OPEC+ meeting in October and the cartel’s decision to cut production by a headline 2 million barrels per day, next Sunday’s meeting is predicted by some to be a snoozer. To start, it will be a Zoom meeting, so there won’t be those oil analysts and pesky journalists hanging around on the famous stairwell and tweeting the latest buzz. The prediction is that there will be little or no change in production totals. Although the oil price is up a bit, Wednesday’s cautious Federal Reserve forecast—that interest rate hikes could be scaled back—gives an almost positive shading to the U.S. economy. But slow down and take some deep breaths...