Gulf countries likely to stand firm at this week’s OPEC meeting

This week’s OPEC meeting is likely to see the Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, once again shrug off calls from some of the cartel’s smaller members to cut oil production in order to shore up oil prices. As we’ve argued before, the Gulf States are in a strong position to absorb the hit to their income from a period of low oil prices and can afford to take a longer-term view of the oil market. It is unlikely that these countries will want to change tack at a time when their strategy is starting to bear fruit.