As 2019 came to a close, oil prices were under pressure from the continued surge of U.S. shale oil. The real challenge for OPEC hasn’t been soft demand — it’s the continued onslaught of shale oil production. Following a failed price war that started in 2014, OPEC’s strategy has been to prop up oil prices by cutting production. In December 2019, OPEC and Russia attempted to respond to sliding oil prices with new production cuts. Last week OPEC members met with Russia (among others) with the hope of announcing additional production cuts that might stabilize oil’s free fall.

Source: Forbes February 09, 2020 22:52 UTC