Where now for the oil price?

ON SPECIALIST

Opec recently decided to keep its formal production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day (mb/d).

However, the International Energy Agency in its latest report claimed that Opec production was up from 31.15 mb/d in October to 31.22 mb/d in November, also reporting that Saudi Arabia increased its output from 9.8 mb/d in October to 9.9 mb/d last month. The difference in production numbers is interesting as several reports expected a drop in Opec output on the back of surging US crude production and weak global demand. It was also interesting to hear about the formal refusal of Iraq to cut its production even if Opec lowered its quota.  Saudi Arabia apparently did not take this stanc...