The OPEC deal is turning out to be a failure, but has it led the Saudi’s to abandon the deal? Have they cheated on their numbers? These were the questions that arose on March 14, when reports came in that Saudi Arabia had increased production by 263,000 barrels per day in February over January. The OPEC “Monthly Oil Market Report” publishes two separate figures. One, the production data directly provided by the member nations. Second, the data collated from six independent secondary sources, mainly consisting of statistical agencies and specialist oil industry publishers. Both figures have been fairly consistent in the case of Saudi Arabia, with an average gap of 72,000 barrels a day in 2016, with the maximum gap being 102,000 barrels a day. However, in January of this year, there was a gap of 117,000 barrels a day, when the secondary sources data exceeded the government figures […]