OPEC Excludes Bloomberg, Reuters And WSJ Reporters From Meeting
The organization’s secretariat typically gives accreditation to any journalist who wants to cover the meeting at their headquarters. This time, that opportunity wasn’t offered and invitations were sent directly to reporters.
(Bloomberg) -- OPEC hasn’t invited reporters from three major news organizations to cover the group’s meetings this weekend in Vienna.
The organization’s secretariat typically gives accreditation to any journalist who wants to cover the meeting at their headquarters. This time, that opportunity wasn’t offered and invitations were sent directly to reporters.
As of Wednesday evening, nobody from Bloomberg News had received an invitation. Journalists from the Reuters news agency and the Journal were also denied invitations, according to people familiar with the matter. If that stands, those reporters would be unable to attend any post-meeting press conference. No reason was given for the decision, for which there is little precedent in OPEC’s history.
Bloomberg, which will send a team to Vienna as usual to cover the meeting, has asked the OPEC secretariat to clarify the situation, but received no response. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal declined to comment.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which together with allies in the wider OPEC+ coalition sets oil production policy for 23 countries, is meeting as prices slide below $70 a barrel in New York, giving up the gains made since Saudi Arabia and other members made a surprise cut in early April.
Prices have been depressed on weaker economic data from China, the world’s largest importer, and the persistently high level of shipments from Russia, which had pledged to take 500,000 barrels out of the global market earlier in the year.
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