Vitol is the largest global independent trader of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

This is no time for OPEC+ to cut production and if I were in charge I would maintain production levels as they currently stand.

There is reason for Nigerians to worry and it is not only the arrival of COVID-19. Oil price benchmarks are in freefall, crashing through resistance levels as if they were none existent. This week has seen Oil fall to its lowest price levels since July 2017 and barring  a miraculous cure for the COVID-19, it is difficult to see what an OPEC+ are able to do to arrest this  downward spiral. We may see Brent below $45 as Libya gets back on stream.

The meeting in Vienna among the signatories of the JCPOA  minus the US was conceived as the last best  chance to save the historic accord. Many commentators thought it lacked the authority to provide a definitive outcome, not least because of the relatively junior level of delegations attending.

How OPEC has changed course, a recap of an article written in May 2019 illustrates the unpredictable odyssey of the oil market and the impact of geopolitical interests

Whilst large European oil companies have resisted every attempt by the EU to get them to engage with the INSTEX mechanism to trade with Iran,