OPEC Mulls Snubbing IEA Oil Data as Political Rift Deepens

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has derided the IEA’s proposals for how the world could avoid damaging climate change as “La-La-Land.” When the long rally in oil prices began last year, OPEC+ ministers threw the blame back at the agency, claiming it had been discouraging investment in vital resources.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which leads OPEC+ along with Saudi Arabia, deepened the rift. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said he was disappointed in the lack of a response from OPEC+ to the crisis, which drove crude above $100 a barrel. As OPEC disregarded U.S. requests to pump more, the agency led the first coordinated release of oil from its members’ emergency stockpiles in over a decade in an attempt to push prices lower.

The IEA provides one out of six sets of production figures that comprise the so-called “Secondary Sources” estimate of OPEC crude production that appears in the cartel’s monthly report.

The OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee, which assesses how closely member countries respect their production quotas, decided to replace the IEA with figures from Wood Mackenzie Ltd. and Rystad A/S, a delegate said. Whether OPEC itself follows suit may be resolved on Thursday.

The IEA’s press service wasn’t immediately able to comment.