OPEC+’s Complains About Volatility, But Here’s What They Really Want

Numerous OPEC+ ministers have closed ranks over the last week to bemoan oil price volatility. Accusations of misleading weakening demand figures and the disconnect between the physical and paper markets are really code for one thing, according to a Standard Chartered report: they want higher prices. Libya’s oil minister Mohamed Oun, for example, has blamed what he calls “heightened volatility” on “misleading news and stories about global oil demand and supplies,” all of which “have sent wrong signals to all market…