The Lack of Trust

Posted: May 10th, 2016

By Jean-François Seznec

Dr. Jean-François Seznec is Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies. He teaches classes on finance, energy, and politics in the Persian Gulf. He is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Scholar at the Middle East Institute and was Board Member of the Stimson Center from 2010 to 2015. Seznec is Managing Partner of the Lafayette Group, a US-based consulting and investment company. He has 25 years' experience in international banking and finance of which ten years were spent in the Middle East.

The international oil market has been in a state of chaos over the past two years, as prices dropped more than 75 percent. Last month, delegates from the 13 OPEC member nations and five other major producers met to discuss a production freeze agreement that might shore up global prices. Once again, they came away empty-handed.

Jean-Francois Seznec, an Adjunct Professor at both Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University, explains how the logic behind OPEC’s decisions, and especially its largest producer Saudi Arabia, are more complicated than you might think.

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