While oil market participants have been focused on above-average global oil stocks and faltering demand growth, OPEC’s spare capacity has been rising because of the production cuts aimed at drawing down stocks and bolstering oil prices. Thanks to the production cuts being extended into 2020, OPEC now sits on more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) of spare production capacity, which makes the cartel, as well as the International Energy Agency (IEA), confident that the market can withstand a sudden major supply outage. The risks…
