Seeking balance, OPEC mulls production hike

• "Two sources said Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, and Russia were discussing two main scenarios for June's OPEC+ meeting and that both frameworks proposed higher output from the second half," Reuters reported.

Background: OPEC and non-OPEC producers led by Russia agreed in December to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day for 6 months, which has led to increased and relative stable prices since then.

The intrigue, via WSJ: "The meeting comes as the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia have all warned in recent days that they could stagger into a military conflict in the Middle East. After the U.S. ban on Iran’s oil exports, two Saudi tankers were struck by unknown attackers, a Saudi pipeline was hit by an Iranian ally and the U.S. beefed up its naval presence in the Persian Gulf and pulled diplomats out of Iraq."

What's next: The next big OPEC meeting is set for June 26 in Vienna, Austria.

Go deeper: New energy technologies are disrupting the power of OPEC