Financial Times: OPEC bans US journalists from visiting headquarters in Vienna

OPEC has banned journalists from leading Western media from its headquarters in Vienna during the June 4 meeting of OPEC officials, the British daily reports Financial Times.

A meeting is planned for that day to discuss OPEC’s course for the second half of the year. It is reported that the ban on journalists from media such as Reuters, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal and was imposed on the initiative of Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, although the reasons for this were not given to the journalists. Financial Times writes:

“According to people familiar with the matter, journalists from Reuters, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal have been denied invitations to the OPEC headquarters in Vienna. OPEC plans to meet with Russia on Sunday to agree on an oil production policy for the second half of the year.”

The newspaper suspects that the journalists of the banned media often publish reports before the actual end of the OPEC or OPEC+ meetings, which leads to fluctuations in oil prices.

The fhistorical Times expects Saudi Arabia to try to raise oil prices at the upcoming meeting, which have plummeted lately, putting pressure on the kingdom’s budget, which is heavily dependent on oil revenues.

In addition, Saudi Arabia needs a higher oil price to fund its ambitious socio-economic reform program, which includes a number of “mega-projects” such as the construction of the hyper-modern NEOM urban complex on the Red Sea.

more on the subject – Media report: Saudi Arabia urges Russia to comply with oil production cuts