The OPEC circus continues to make headlines. All the five-star hotels are booked, as market analysts fervently examine their glass balls to predict the outcome of Thursday’s big meeting. Again, OPEC strategists have successfully raised media attention to a level where the oil market’s future is undecided. However, the new structure of the oil market was already decided weeks ago between Moscow and Riyadh. Though Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has limited his agenda to the media frenzy of the Colditz Castle of Riyadh (a.k.a. the Ritz Carlton) and the ongoing Iranian-Qatari war drums, Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s unquestionable leader-to-be for the coming decades, has already put its new market strategy in place. The kingdom will continue its export cuts, while shaping the market increasingly by conquering market share in the petroleum products market. On the short term, analysts are looking at statements coming from the cramped media […]