Divided OPEC grapples with whether to cut production, prop up oil prices

By Steven Mufson, Published: June 13

With the global economy at a tipping point, a deeply divided Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna wrangled over whether to cut production and prop up crude oil prices.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and the cartel member with the greatest latitude for tightening or opening its taps, arrived vowing to maintain its output and hold the line on quotas for the group. Other OPEC members, led by Iran and Venezuela, have wanted to trim output quotas to boost the price of oil.

Analysts said they expect no change in the end. With the approach of the traditional summertime surge in oil demand and with the imposition date for international sanctions on Iranian oil sales imminent, the Saudi government and other key OPEC nations have indicated their concern over stabilizing the oil market.

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