Javier Blas, Columnist

OPEC’s Numbers Are an Exercise in Artistic Deception

November 28, 2025 at 4:30 AM UTC

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. He is coauthor of “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.”

Pure poetry.
Photographer: NurPhoto/NurPhoto

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On the eve of a contentious OPEC meeting in the 1980s, one of the cartel’s top officials penned a poem that caused quite a stir among his colleagues. As the group meets on Sunday facing the danger of an oil price crash in 2026, his verses remain as relevant and as controversial four decades later.

The furor provoked by Sheik Mana al-Otaiba, then oil minister of the United Arab Emirates by day and published poet by night 1, wasn’t about the need to cut output. Rather, it was about his reference to “error and violation” — poetic license for the lies and cheating that plagued the group.