Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is sitting with the leaders of the other OPEC countries. They looked at each other and did not speak.
The production of crude oil had increased the price of crude oil, and the income of these countries had increased instead of decreasing.
However, there were serious problems with the trade between these countries. Not only the US, Hua Xia, Japan, and Russia had imposed economic sanctions on OPEC, but even the European Union had also joined in.
OPEC had affected the interests of most countries.
OPEC's reserves and production accounted for about 40% of the world's oil. If other countries join forces to suppress crude oil prices, OPEC might not be able to withstand it.
The trade blockade had caused them to suffer a lot, and the prices of many necessities had increased. This will cause inflation in these countries.
Even if they make more money, their people's living standards will drop.
OPEC is also debating whether to compromise and resume crude oil production in exchange for other countries to lift the trade blockade.
OPEC cannot withstand the alliance of these major countries. Although crude oil prices seem to be rising, it is mainly due to the international speculators.
Without these funds, how high can crude oil prices be? Most importantly, they are making money now, but they cannot exchange for necessities. This is the most troublesome issue.
Which of these countries was an agricultural country? Other than the water which they produced themselves, everything else, from clothing, food, housing, etc., was imported.
But if they compromise now, other countries will surely ask them to increase their production, pushing the crude oil price back to below 60 USD.
If the US can mass-produce shale oil, it will have a huge impact on these countries. Other than oil and other energy, what other valuable commodities do they have?
That shale oil will greatly increase crude oil production, which will lower crude oil prices.
"Since no one is talking, let me say it. The price of a piece of bread in our country had increased by three times, and it is all because of government subsidies. If not, our country will be crushed by inflation. "Abdullah said.
Money was worthless, and many people's lives were going to change. That was going to be a mess.
"When the US, Europe, and other countries produce shale oil, our crude oil prices will drop, but it must not drop too much."
"The international demand for crude oil is still increasing. If we maintain last year's production, our income will still be high."
"That's not right. If the price of crude oil falls and our production remains the same, then our income will definitely fall," someone said.
"The price of crude oil will not fall below 60 USD. Do you really think that the cost of shale oil is lower than ours? Their cost for a barrel of oil must be more than sixty dollars. "
"So if the oil price is very low, then they will be producing at a loss. In that case, they will reduce production, or even stop production, and then the crude oil production will return to normal." Abdullah said confidently.
The cost of shale oil? They hadn't considered this question carefully before. But they also believed in Abdullah's words. How could extracting oil from oil shale be cheaper than directly mining it? Moreover, the construction of oil pipelines, refineries, and so on would also be a huge investment.
On average, their costs would be higher. If this was the case, maybe after this shale oil appeared, the price of crude oil would remain high!
Everyone suddenly felt that it wasn't impossible to make concessions on shale oil. For example, if there were one or two more OPEC members, they would welcome them with open arms. This way, their organization's influence would be even greater.
But the US is developing shale oil, and it is the world's biggest importer of crude oil. This made them worried. If the production of this shale oil was very large, would the US really not need to import from them in the future?
They also heard that Hua Xia, Russia, and many other European countries have shale oil mines. If they were to start producing shale oil and become self-sufficient, their status would definitely drop a lot.
For example, Saudi Arabia is a developed country now. Even among the developed countries, Saudi Arabia's welfare benefits are the best, and they are rich.
If their income falls, they will not be able to implement many of their welfare benefits, and their rule will be shaken.
"Should we talk to the other countries to resume production? But they are asking us to increase production, and this will cause crude oil prices to plummet. "Someone said worryingly.
"Don't worry. We will only increase production this year, and on January 1st next year, we can restrict production again. Also, increasing production will lower crude oil prices, and we can stop them from producing shale oil. "
You all have 50 USD per barrel of oil, and you all want to spend 70 USD per barrel to produce it? Are you all idiots?!
"That's right. We can use the excuse of increasing production to negotiate with them and ask them to resume trading with us immediately. We will also sign long-term contracts to ensure that we will not be threatened in the future!"
Everyone was talking at once, thinking about how to fight for the interests of their country after taking a step back.
During this period of time, the sharp rise in the price of crude oil had eased the economic pressure on many countries. Saudi Arabia is a tycoon in OPEC, but there are still countries like Iran who owe a lot of debts.
Now that crude oil prices have skyrocketed, their income had increased, and they can use some crude oil to pay off their debts.
If crude oil prices can continue to be so high, they would have paid off their debts a long time ago and become rich!
They also knew that it was impossible. Crude oil prices had exceeded 140 USD per barrel, and this is beyond a reasonable price.
But they felt it is possible to maintain the price above 80 USD for a long time. If the US and other countries start to produce shale oil, the US might also increase crude oil prices.
After discussing some conditions that everyone can accept, they sent their representatives to negotiate with the US, Hua Xia, Japan, Russia, the European Union, and other countries that import the most crude oil.
As long as they agree, the problem will be solved.
Feng Yu was swimming in the pool when he heard his phone ring. He climbed out of the pool and answered the call.
"Feng Yu, we are now negotiating with the UAE's representative. They are representing OPEC, and they had proposed a good deal. I think within a few days, OPEC will announce that they will resume or even increase their crude oil production!"
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