As OPEC+ reels from Coronavirus, Libya threatens knock out punch

After a week of wrestling, OPEC and Russia may be within reach of a hesitant response to the coronavirus. But a possible peace deal in Libya threatens to knock them off balance.

As the deadly epidemic in China has hammered crude oil demand and prices, it is often been overlooked that the sudden surplus in global production would be much worse if most of the North African nation’s oil industry had not been shut down by conflict.

If the warring sides are able to reach an agreement in Cairo on Sunday, the restored oil output would dwarf the tentative production cut that was proposed at OPEC+ talks this week.

That would turn what is already been a stern test for the cartel into a potentially insurmountable challenge.