The increasingly acrimonious breakup of the Opec+ partnership has swiftly devolved into a price war, with the leading actors on either side of the breakdown pledging to swamp the market with millions of additional barrels.
The Opec quotient alone can increase supplies to the market by some 4mn b/d and the maximalist statements from Gulf oil ministers in recent days indicate they intend to unleash a figure in this ballpark onto global markets from April in a bold gambit to bring Russia back to the negotiating table. Even if they are unable to achieve this in such short order, substantial fresh volumes appear an inevitability. (CONTINUED - 1268 WORDS)
