Last week saw the world watching Vienna with bated breath. Oil
cartel OPEC met on November 27, with most in the upstream hoping for a
production cut to prop up prices, and consumers keeping their fingers
crossed that things would remain unchanged.
Drake kept his finger on the pulse, and in the process, couldn’t help
but draw similarities between ‘OPEC Day’ and Sky TV’s Transfer Deadline
Day – the 24-hour bonanza that follows all the last-minute transfer of
football players from club to club.
Indeed comparisons could be drawn between OPEC and Arsenal yesterday, as despite all the talk, OPEC’s Jim White, Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri, announced that there would be no change – not that anyone was really expecting Ali al-Naimi to sign a tricky young French winger.
Both spectacles attract the interest of Russian oligarchs, and they would have received this week’s decision with just about as much pleasure as if Eden Hazard had turned down Chelsea at the last minute to take a cut-price deal at Havant and Waterlooville.
OPEC’s decision is bad news for Russia, which despite Rosneft noting that its extraction fees are among the lowest in the world, is reliant on an oil price in excess of US$100 per barrel to have any hope of balancing its economy. Not even the signing of the mercurial Lionel Messi would help with that one.
The two events both enjoy their fair share of drama, and irony – encapsulated by Venezuela’s Rafael Ramirez, who said: “The US is producing in a very, very bad manner. Shale oil, I mean it is a disaster from the point of view of climate change and the environment” – a comment that appears to have come out of the Paul Merson school of logic. Merson, on the other hand, may have suggested the removal of at least 1 gillion barrels per day of OPEC production.
Despite being a member of OPEC, Venezuela’s desperate wish to cut the group’s output (also because of its economy’s over-reliance on oil) fell on deaf ears, and Ramirez left the meet in a foul mood, no doubt worried about being battered by the press at home, and the distinct possibility of a relegation dogfight. Caracas now finds itself in dire need of help from its parent club in Beijing.
Unfortunately, OPEC’s meetings are conducted behind closed doors. However, a Transfer Deadline-style show would make captivating viewing. Imagine the excitement that would have erupted upon the appointment of OPEC’s new first team coach (President) – Nigerian Energy Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Updates every quarter of an hour sound rather appealing, with pundits discussing each move in the intervening period. Former Shell CEO Peter Voser would make an excellent candidate to be included in the panel alongside Angola’s Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos and former EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, all hosted by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, who owns Manchester City.
The ever-evasive Al-Naimi took a leaf out of Harry Redknapp’s book yesterday, throwing a scrap to the gathered journalists as he emerged from the meeting: “It was a great decision,” before confirming that OPEC had decided not to make any changes. When the seagulls follow the trawler…
One person we didn’t see in Vienna yesterday was Darren Bent, with the striker having surprisingly avoided the deadline crunch by signing a loan deal with Brighton and Hove Albion the day before.
With the window now shut until June, clubs will have to make do with what they’ve got. As ever, this will prove easier for some OPEC members than others.
What might it look like?
Indeed comparisons could be drawn between OPEC and Arsenal yesterday, as despite all the talk, OPEC’s Jim White, Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri, announced that there would be no change – not that anyone was really expecting Ali al-Naimi to sign a tricky young French winger.
Both spectacles attract the interest of Russian oligarchs, and they would have received this week’s decision with just about as much pleasure as if Eden Hazard had turned down Chelsea at the last minute to take a cut-price deal at Havant and Waterlooville.
OPEC’s decision is bad news for Russia, which despite Rosneft noting that its extraction fees are among the lowest in the world, is reliant on an oil price in excess of US$100 per barrel to have any hope of balancing its economy. Not even the signing of the mercurial Lionel Messi would help with that one.
The two events both enjoy their fair share of drama, and irony – encapsulated by Venezuela’s Rafael Ramirez, who said: “The US is producing in a very, very bad manner. Shale oil, I mean it is a disaster from the point of view of climate change and the environment” – a comment that appears to have come out of the Paul Merson school of logic. Merson, on the other hand, may have suggested the removal of at least 1 gillion barrels per day of OPEC production.
Despite being a member of OPEC, Venezuela’s desperate wish to cut the group’s output (also because of its economy’s over-reliance on oil) fell on deaf ears, and Ramirez left the meet in a foul mood, no doubt worried about being battered by the press at home, and the distinct possibility of a relegation dogfight. Caracas now finds itself in dire need of help from its parent club in Beijing.
Unfortunately, OPEC’s meetings are conducted behind closed doors. However, a Transfer Deadline-style show would make captivating viewing. Imagine the excitement that would have erupted upon the appointment of OPEC’s new first team coach (President) – Nigerian Energy Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Updates every quarter of an hour sound rather appealing, with pundits discussing each move in the intervening period. Former Shell CEO Peter Voser would make an excellent candidate to be included in the panel alongside Angola’s Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos and former EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, all hosted by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, who owns Manchester City.
The ever-evasive Al-Naimi took a leaf out of Harry Redknapp’s book yesterday, throwing a scrap to the gathered journalists as he emerged from the meeting: “It was a great decision,” before confirming that OPEC had decided not to make any changes. When the seagulls follow the trawler…
One person we didn’t see in Vienna yesterday was Darren Bent, with the striker having surprisingly avoided the deadline crunch by signing a loan deal with Brighton and Hove Albion the day before.
With the window now shut until June, clubs will have to make do with what they’ve got. As ever, this will prove easier for some OPEC members than others.
What might it look like?
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