Middle East Defies Weakening Asian Market To Lift Prices

One of the most drastic production cuts of the past years, Saudi Arabia’s pledge of reducing its crude output by 1 million b/d in July, has so far been nothing short of a fiasco. Oil prices are now lower than they were in late May, Chinese demand has still not done wonders to the still-bearish sentiment in the oil markets and US interest rate hikes are still widely expected to happen.

For oil producers, frightening to imagine what would have happened if the OPEC+ meeting ends with no production pledge at all. When most Middle Eastern nations…