Did President Obama Cut a Deal With the Saudis? "OPEC output: another jump as the oil group gets ready to meet"

You know, sort of a "I'll have more flexibility to take care of Iran after the election" type of thing.
Inquiring minds want to know.
[you little provocateur, you -ed]

From Platt's The Barrel blog:

OPEC is meeting in Vienna next week, and suddenly, it might have to talk about too much oil on world markets. That wasn't the case a few months ago, and the agenda has shifted.

Here's another way to look at the numbers OPEC faces. The Platts estimate of OPEC output for May is 31.75 million b/d. The International Energy Agency projects that the world's "call" for OPEC oil in the second quarter is 29.6 million b/d. The call is the amount needed to keep inventories steady; it's calculated by estimating world demand, subtracting non-OPEC output and OPEC NGL production....MORE