Railroad Commission of Texas’ Sitton is invited to OPEC meeting

The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) is debating whether the state should curb crude production for the first time in almost half a century. Unusually for a state-level agency, the RRC is currently integral to national and even international energy policy.

Ryan Sitton, one of the three commissioners that make up RRC, said the agency could order production limits for Texas producers, which was last done in 1973. He said: “In theory, Texas could cut production by 10 per cent, and if Saudi Arabia is willing to cut production by 10 per cent from its pre-pandemic levels and Russia is willing to do the same, it would return the market to pre-crisis levels (and only somewhat oversupplied),” 

Sitton has been invited to address the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), at the group’s June meeting in Vienna.

Global crude prices are getting hit by a toxic combination of a supply shock as Saudi Arabia and Russia battle for market share and a demand hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, are far below the prices shale producers need to generate cash from drilling new wells.

For more information visit ryansitton.com

25th March 2020