When OPEC+ agreed on its 400,000 b/d monthly increases back in August 2021, the overwhelming expectation for the first months of 2022 was a gradual return to normality, with key Middle Eastern crude producers ramping up production to almost pre-pandemic levels. Fast-forward to today and the world is facing a completely different picture – inventories are the tightest in almost a decade, with the pace of stock depletion unparalleled in recent decades. The same key Middle Eastern powerhouses have played a part in this, underperforming their…
