Crude oil prices plunged as talks at the OPEC+ meeting Friday collapsed without a deal, meaning all prior agreements to curb production will end next month.
Not only did OPEC and key partner Russia not agree to additional output curbs, but starting in April, current limits of 2.1 million barrels per day will no longer continue.
OPEC said consultations between the oil group and non-members would continue, but a planned meeting in June is reportedly uncertain now.
“I’m still picking my jaw up off the ground as most people here are,” said Allyson Cutright, director of the global oil service division at Rapidan Energy Group, said in an email after the collapse of OPEC+ talks.
“OPEC+ is dead in everything but name. Still unclear whether it can be salvaged down the road, but it is looking unlikely at this moment.”
She added that it’s not clear how Saudi Arabia will react immediately, but noted that supply and demand fundamentals are terrible now. “There is no floor in sight for prices.”
The start of the OPEC+ meeting was delayed by three hours as Russian officials met with several OPEC members for side discussions. Russian officials had resisted a deeper production cut to counteract a massive drop in demand caused by the coronavirus. Instead, they only backed extending current cuts.
The failure to reach a deal comes as OPEC members reportedly issued a stern ultimatum, telling Russian officials that if Moscow doesn’t participate in the additional reduction, then OPEC could abandon its cuts altogether, according to Bloomberg.
OPEC members doubled down on their calls for output cuts late Thursday. After the formal OPEC meeting concluded, the cartel released a statement saying that members are now recommending that an additional production cut of 1.5 million barrels per day be extended to the rest of the year vs. an earlier proposal for Q2 only.
OPEC countries would be responsible for 1 million bpd of the new cut, with Russia and other non-OPEC members accounting for the last 500,000 bpd. The latest OPEC proposal comes on top of the current reduction of 2.1 million bpd, which are set to expire this month.
Crude Oil Prices, Oil Stocks
U.S. crude oil prices plunged 10.1% to settle at $41.28, the lowest level since August 2016 while marking the worst single-day decline Nov. 28, 2014. Brent crude oil prices tumbled 9.4% to settle at $45.27 per barrel.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) shares closed down 4.8% on the stock market today. During its investor day meeting Thursday, the oil giant announced it would scale back operations in the Permian due to lower oil prices. Chevron (CVX) lost 1.9%, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) fell 4.25%, and BP (BP) dropped 4.1%.
As coronavirus fears spread, last week was the worst week for crude oil prices since the 2008 financial crash.
Airlines have already cut over 200,000 flights on routes to China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Milan. Japan has closed all schools until the end of March and asked workers to telecommute. China’s factory activity hit an all-time low in February, well under analyst estimates. The U.S. ISM manufacturing index fell to 50.1 in February from 50.9 in January.
IHS Markit estimated Wednesday that world oil demand in Q1 will be 3.8 million barrels per day lower than a year earlier, marking the biggest quarterly drop ever and topping the previous record seen in Q1 2009, when demand fell by 3.6 million bpd.
“This is a sudden, instant demand shock—and the scale of the decline is unprecedented,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit.
The latest demand estimate is also 4.5 million bpd lower than a prior forecast that was made before the coronavirus outbreak slammed crude oil prices.
Russia had dragged out a production cut decision for months, and the Kremlin is known for making a last-minute agreement with OPEC. But the Moscow’s resistance this time was more than the usual suspense.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that current oil prices were “acceptable” for the Russian economy. But Russia’s large financial reserves don’t “eliminate the need for action, including in cooperation with our foreign partners,” he continued.
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Read it from Investors.com – Photo as posted on Wikipedia ( OPEC headquarters in Vienna (2009 building) )