In its inaugural discussions on the oversupply of oil, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has seen an overwhelming number of delegates call for the unification and collaboration of countries in ensuring a stable oil market. However, despite the widespread support for political unity, the delegate of Saudi Arabia failed to recognise its role in the Saudi-Russian price war, going against the ideals of diplomacy amongst OPEC.
As elegantly described by the delegate of China, “A single tree does not make a forest, a single string cannot make music”. This sentiment was reflected in many other delegates’ opening speeches, as delegates of Algeria, Venezuela, and more, urged OPEC countries to come together to stabilize the oil market. A few observer states, such as the delegate of Mexico, even pledged his commitment to helping OPEC states achieve a stable oil market. This pledge of harmony and cooperation has never been seen before amongst OPEC countries and brings hope to the future of the oil industry.
Countries were also quick to address a root cause of the volatile oil market, pinning the blame on price wars; specifically, the year-long price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Delegates of Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea stated that the price war was detrimental to the price of oil worldwide, urging countries to learn from Russia’s and Saudi Arabia’s mistakes, and to never let history repeat itself again. Russia was sincere in admitting her mistakes, recognising that its actions were interlinked with the global economy, and that its economy was heavily dependent on oil exports. Russia promised to find a better way of ensuring sustainable oil prices, and this was met with approval from other countries as it was in line with their ideas of unity.
However, Saudi Arabia acted as the antithesis to OPEC’s direction and vision for harmony and collaboration. The delegate, in his opening speech, failed to recognise Saudi Arabia’s role in plunging oil prices around the world, choosing to use his opening speech to criticise OPEC’s proceedings, calling the organisation “slow and inefficient”.
Furthermore, the delegate urged countries to recall the mission of OPEC, and work together to resolve the issue. The delegate even went ahead to call for diplomacy amongst countries. The words of Saudi Arabia are hypocritical in nature. In the General Speakers List, its delegate employed schoolyard-style tactics in defence to other countries’ accusations of its role in the worsening oil price market, stating that Russia had “started the price war first”, before abandoning the topic and moving to other points of interest.
Instead of justifying himself, the delegate of Saudi Arabia should have taken accountability for the price war and apologised for its detrimental effects on the global economy. The delegate of Saudi Arabia, though recognising the importance of collaboration and teamwork amongst OPEC countries, failed to recognise that deflecting the blame for the price war was a step in the wrong direction. If Saudi Arabia truly wishes to see a unified OPEC working together towards a more stable oil market, the delegate needs to begin reflecting on ways to prevent another price war from happening.
If not, his hypocrisy could be a caution to other states of OPEC that another oil price war would soon ensue, with Saudi Arabia as one of its possible contenders.