Don't expect next Opec meeting to achieve anything

THE June 2 Opec (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting will be held amid a backdrop of oil prices near US$50 per barrel, a sharp drop in Nigerian production due to sabotage, turmoil in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia operating with a new oil minister, and Iran aggressively pumping close to pre-sanction levels. Opec interactions have become a direct altercation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with the remaining members reduced to mere observers.

The new Saudi oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, will be attending his first Opec meeting, but experts doubt he will have the same clout and skills as the outgoing Saudi oil minister, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi. "Opec's unity is now in the spotlight more than ever," said an Opec official in a Wall Street Journal report. "Would we ever see a minister who carries the same weight as Naimi? I don't think so, especially as it is clear now that decisions are i…