Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries

In what appears to be a material shift in the perceived OPEC balance of power, while Iran (and Iraq) have so far refused to concede to Saudi demands for production cuts, moments ago Reuters reported that in what can only be described as a demonstration of power, Iran proposed that it be Saudi Arabia that foots the entire proposed production cut, by reducing its own production to 9.5 million barrels.

One day ahead of OPEC's much anticipated meeting in Vienna, oil has slid back under $46 on rising pessimism that an oil production cut deal, taken widely for granted as recently as last week, is not going to take place.

Here is the latest rundown of events heading into the Wednesday meeting.

By EconMatters

In this video we discuss the latest posturing ahead of the OPEC Production Cut Decision, and the associated consequences for the price of oil based upon another failure out of OPEC. Your right Saudi Arabia you don`t have to cut, see you at $38 a barrel!

In an intraday update on the current status of pre-summit negotiations taking place Monday in Vienna, an OPEC delegate told Bloomberg that there have been "no big changes in the position of either Iran or Iraq" at the high-level committee talks, which began 8 hours ago, in Vienna. As a reminder, both Iran and Iraq have sought exemptions from cutting oil production and according to the Algiers agreement in late September, Iran had been granted just that, however since then Saudi Arabia appears to have reneged on its concession.

One day after Saudi Arabia raised the prospect that Wednesday's OPEC summit in Vienna may conclude without a deal (which also was spun as optimistic as the market would still revert to "equilibrium", however it was unclear at what price), OPEC members tried on Monday to rescue a deal to limit oil output as tensions grew among the producer group and non-OPEC member Russia.