The consortium of oil-producing countries under the auspices of the OPEC alliance does not aim to maintain a high price for raw materials and make a profit, but to stabilize the market so that income can be received for many years, and the market is settled and less volatile than it is now.
However, this approach does not suit Washington, especially now, when an unprecedented anti-Russian campaign is taking place throughout the world. The intervention of the White House in the free market, which has been choosing the rules of the game without crises for a long time, leads to very large fluctuations, from the upper pole of quotes to the lower one, which negatively affects the entire industry.
After an extraordinary rise in the cost of strategic raw materials against the backdrop of sanctions, Washington achieved its critical drop, when the profitability of production in the United States itself dropped to the limit and became a threat. The efforts of OPEC+, whose powers and influence on the market have been contested and leveled by America for so long, also cannot directly affect the situation.
In a major effort, the fall in oil prices appeared to have been halted Thursday after the Swiss central bank stepped in to bail out Credit Suisse and the Russian and Saudi energy ministers met to show a willingness to intervene if the crash continues. However, on Friday morning prices went down again.
In one of the most turbulent weeks for the oil markets in recent years, oil prices could lose more than 10%. If the trend continues, the price ceiling will be set for American and other Western oil, since it does not apply to Russian oil products that have gone into the gray zone. Meanwhile, WTI quotes are approaching $66 per barrel, which is slightly above the limit for domestic crude introduced by the West.
If exports from the Russian Federation have a choice where to be sold and at what price, then the Western product does not have such a choice. And you have to comply with the forced price ceiling.
Recall that the United States is struggling with two factors: expensive exports from Russia and a decrease in investment and production at its fields. So far, it’s going very badly – the opponent’s exports are growing, as is the price of his raw materials, and production in America is declining, especially against the backdrop of falling prices.