Wow OPEC left $541 Billion on the Table with their Quest for Market Share

Now these are some big numbers to leave on the table in 2015.

Would that strategy have cost them market share? Sure, a small amount. But assume they then pumped 34.5 million bpd at $80/bbl. That’s just over a trillion dollars in annual revenue. If instead they pump 36.5 million bpd at $35/bbl — which is actually more than they are getting as I write this — that’s $466 billion in annual revenues. The annual difference in those scenarios is $541 billion. OPEC already lost out on that much in 2015 from the sharp drop in prices. If prices remain at these levels for most of this year, the foregone revenue for OPEC in 2015 and 2016 will easily top $1 trillion since that November 2014 meeting.

That $541 billion could have been used to buy more defense against the hated Iranians. Or it could have been used to lobby hard against the Iranian nuke deal or to get their own nuke program off of the ground.