Saudis no longer willing to cut so others don't have to
On the face of it, this sounds like splitting hairs but it's not. Reuters cities sources saying Saudi Arabia raised output to 10.07 million barrels per day in June versus to its target of 10.058 mbpd.
That's a fractional miss but it compares to 9.88 mpbd in May so it's an extra 200k bpd.
Since the start of the quotas, Saudi Arabia has been under-producing and that's made up for extra production from some other members. If they're no longer willing to do that, it shows they're losing faith in the agreement.
Moreover, even a slight bit of overproduction is a greenlight for other OPEC members to do the same.
In short, this is a tiny crack in the dam, but it's a significant one.
WTI crude is down 34 cents to $44.07 today.
