據7月7日彭博社報道，近一周的正式和非正式談判以及幕后談判未能解決關于歐佩克+基準產量水平的爭議，這一分歧使歐佩克陷入了自2020年3月以來最嚴重的危機。要知道，當時全球需求在疫情中大幅下降的情況，而歐佩克領導人沙特阿拉伯和俄羅斯在石油供應管理問題上出現了分歧。

　　現在，這一爭端發生在歐佩克的兩個阿拉伯海灣盟國——阿聯酋和沙特阿拉伯之間。分析人士認為，阿聯酋正尋求走出沙特在全球政治事務中的影響范圍。

　　阿聯酋堅持自己的立場，要知道，如果歐佩克+承認阿聯酋的減產基準太低且“不公平”，它就會批準增加市場供應。

　　但是，歐佩克+連續五天未能克服分歧，這讓人們想起了去年的油價戰爭，當時該聯盟在一個月內放棄了所有協議。交易員和分析師發出一連串的疑問，如這場糾紛是否會再次導致生產協議消散?由于美國頁巖氣產量保持平穩，且沒有破壞歐佩克為保持市場供應緊張所做的努力，歐佩克在石油市場管理方面的堅定控制力會因此下滑嗎?

　　三次協商失敗，局勢堪憂。

　　盡管上周末進行了調解、磋商和邊談，在兩天都沒有達成一致意見后，歐佩克+周一第三次協商失敗，取消了歐佩克+會議，并表示尚未決定下次會議召開的時間。

　　由于沒有達成在8月增產的協議，歐佩克+目前可能將維持與7月份持平的供應。考慮到全球石油需求正在反彈，市場最初預計8月份該聯盟的產量至少會增加50萬桶/天，但現實讓油價隨即躍升至三年來的最高水平。

　　Vanda Insights表示：" 市場開始考慮歐佩克+不會在8月再增加供應的可能。”

　　每桶90美元的油價?在庫存減少、需求回升的情況下，沒有額外的供應，可能會在短期內推高油價，至少在歐佩克+達成某種協議之前會這樣。

　　行業咨詢公司FGE董事長Fereidun Fesharaki表示，如果歐佩克+下個月不增加供應，油價可能會跌至每桶85 - 90美元。Fesharaki預計，歐佩克將在未來一到三周內達成某種妥協，在此期間油價將繼續上漲。

　　Energy Aspects研究總監Amrita Sen對彭博社表示:“8月份現貨市場異常緊張，沒有額外的石油供應，很容易導致油價超過每桶90美元。”

　　會爆發新一輪的價格戰?

　　阿聯酋和歐佩克+之間的分歧似乎比最初設想的更大，此前，歐佩克+召開第一次會議，未能就未來的石油政策達成共識。但至少就目前而言，很少有分析人士認為，從2020年春季開始，短暫的石油價格戰將重演，要知道，當時歐佩克+產油國隨意產油，并促成油價暴跌，且油價暴跌的影響仍在大多數歐佩克+經濟體中顯現。

　　瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)在一份報告中表示，目前8月份增加供應的僵局有可能在短期內將布倫特原油(Brent Crude)價格推高至每桶80美元。周二早間，布倫特原油交易價高于每桶77美元，西德克薩斯中質原油交易價高于每桶76美元。

　　瑞士信貸分析師表示:“如果沙特和阿聯酋無法解決彼此的分歧，可能會導致雙方各執一詞，重新陷入價格戰，這對能源投資者來說是一種嚴峻的局面。”

　　歐佩克+面臨的風險比配額基準大得多。

　　但是，能源基金的首席投資官們表示，這種“嚴酷的情況”是目前僵局最不可能出現的結果之一。加拿大一家能源基金的首席投資官表示:“在產量大幅增加的情況下，出現破壞性崩潰的可能性很低，這種情況不會發生。”一位駐倫敦的首席投資官表示：“我們認為印度和歐洲需求強勁，存在實際供應風險，浪費這個機會不符合歐佩克的利益，油價有望在未來六個月升至每桶90 - 100美元。”

　　因此,投資機構并不認為因此。因為在一年多的時間里，歐佩克努力表明自己在石油市場的低位，如果歐佩克想要再次成為主要的石油市場推動者，那么談判破裂是非常不明智的。目前不可能出現破壞價格的“不交易”行為，要知道，如今歐佩克+在市場上擁有幾十年來最強的影響力，它們不會放棄這一切。”

　　王佳晶 摘譯自 彭博社

　　原文如下：

　　OPEC Stalemate Could Spark A New Oil Price War

　　Nearly a week of formal and side talks and behind-the-scenes negotiations failed to resolve a dispute over baseline production levels at OPEC+. The discord threw the group in its most serious crisis since March 2020, when the alliance’s leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia disagreed on oil supply management with global demand crumbling in the pandemic.

　　Now the dispute is between two Arab Gulf allies in OPEC—the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—in what analysts see as the UAE looking to step out of the Saudi shadow in global political affairs.

　　The UAE is digging in its heels, making its approval of OPEC+ adding more supply to the market contingent on the group acknowledging that the UAE’s baseline for the cuts was too low and “unfair.”

　　The disagreement, which OPEC+ has been unable to overcome for five consecutive days, is bringing back the specter of last year’s oil price war when the alliance abandoned all deals for a month. Traders and analysts have already started to ask themselves: is this the dispute that will dissolve the production pact again? And will OPEC+ let its firm grip on oil market management slip, after being in such a favorable position this year with U.S. shale keeping production flat and not unraveling the alliance’s efforts to keep markets tight?

　　Third Time’s Not a Charm

　　Despite mediation, consultations, and side talks in the weekend – after two days of ‘no deal’ outcome of meetings – OPEC+ failed a third time on Monday, called off the OPEC+ meeting, and said it hadn’t decided yet when the next meeting would be held.

　　The lack of agreement overproduction for next month likely means that OPEC+ will keep, for now, their production in August flat compared with July. This immediately sent oil prices jumping to the highest in three years, considering that global oil demand is bouncing back and the market was initially expecting at least a 500,000-bpd increase from the alliance in August.

　　“The market began factoring in the prospect of no additional supply hike from the OPEC/non-OPEC alliance in August,” Vanda Insights said in a daily note on Tuesday.

　　$90 Oil? No additional supply at a time when inventories are drawing down and demand is roaring back will likely send oil prices higher in the near term, at least until the group reaches some sort of a deal.

　　Oil at $85 to $90 a barrel is on the cards if OPEC+ doesn’t raise supply next month, Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of industry consultant FGE, told Bloomberg TV in an interview. Fesharaki expects the group to reach some sort of compromise over the next one to three weeks, during which oil prices will continue to rise.

　　“No additional oil in August, at a time when the physical market is incredibly tight, can easily lead to prices overshooting above US$90 a barrel,” Amrita Sen, Director of Research at Energy Aspects, told Bloomberg.

　　New Price War?

　　The UAE-OPEC+ rift, however, now appears wider than initially thought on Thursday last week, when the first OPEC+ meeting failed to reach a consensus on oil policy going forward.

　　But at least for now, few analysts believe that there will be a repeat of the brief oil price war from the spring of 2020, when the OPEC+ producers pumped at will for a month and contributed to the crash in oil prices, the effects of which are still being felt in most OPEC+ economies.

　　Credit Suisse, in a note late on Monday, said the current impasse about raising supply in August had the ability to push Brent Crude to $80 a barrel in the near term. Early on Tuesday, Brent was trading above $77 and WTI was up above $76 a barrel.

　　“If Saudi and UAE are unable to resolve their differences, then it could lead to each man for himself approach and back to price wars, which is a draconian scenario for energy investors,” Credit Suisse analysts said.

　　OPEC+ Has Much More at Stake Than Quota baselines

　　This ‘draconian scenario’, however, is one of the most unlikely outcomes of the current deadlock, according to chief investment officers of energy funds who joined a live chat on Bloomberg on Monday with Lawrence McDonald, founder of The Bear Traps Report.

　　“[T]here is a low probability of a destructive breakdown with a large boost in production, that’s not happening,” an energy fund CIO in Canada said.

　　“We see strong demand (India, Europe) with real supply risk, it is not in OPEC’s interest to blow this opportunity,” a CIO in London said, noting that oil has a shot at $90 to $100 a barrel in the next six months.

　　Institutional investors, therefore, don’t see the OPEC+ pact breaking up, as it would be very unwise for the alliance to be sidelined as the key oil market mover again, after working for more than a year to show it is calling the shots (and burning the shorts) in the oil market.

　　“We do not believe that a price-destructive “non-deal” is in the cards at this time. This is the strongest period OPEC+ has had in the market in decades and they don’t want to give that all up,” The Bear Traps Report’s McDonald notes.