The year that is drawing to its close has been turbulent for the Middle East. While oil prices stubbornly refused to respond to efforts to push them higher, remaining locked in a tight and not particularly pleasant range, a number of attacks heightened tensions in the region and made many warn that the animosity between Saudi Arabia and Tehran could escalate to an open military clash. Will 2020 be any different? For oil prices, hardly. The International Energy Agency said earlier this month it expected a 700,000 bpd overhang in global oil supply during the early months of the new year. Then last week Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said he expected OPEC+ to discuss relaxing the deeper production caps it just agreed to at a meeting in March. While a discussion does not mean a relaxation, the very possibility of reversing some or all of the additional cuts […]