Reporters, Bloomberg, and sources with knowledge of the situation claimed on Friday that OPEC had refused media access to reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal to cover oil policy meetings in Vienna this weekend.

The three media outlets are among the top sources of financial news and data worldwide. When ministers from OPEC and its allies meet to discuss strategy, the decisions they make have an effect on the cost of the most traded commodity on the planet.

Leading oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia are part of the OPEC+ alliance, also known as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Allies.

On Saturday and Sunday, ministers from the group, which supplies more than 40% of the world’s oil, will assemble as usual for their twice-yearly meetings.

Reuters journalists were denied media credentials by OPEC personnel on Friday so they could not cover the event. At one of Vienna’s upscale hotels, the personnel in charge of media credentials stated that they could not grant accreditation without an invitation. When questioned about why Reuters reporters were not invited, they remained silent.

Reuters has asked OPEC for comment on why it has not invited or accredited Reuters reporters for the meeting, but OPEC has not yet done so.

“We believe that transparency and a free press serve both readers and markets, and we object to this restriction on coverage,” a spokesperson for Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters Corp, said on Friday.

“Reuters will continue to cover OPEC in an independent, impartial and reliable way in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.”

A person with knowledge of the situation claimed that on Friday, a reporter from Bloomberg also received a denial of admission. An official from Bloomberg stated on Friday that the corporation had not been authorised to cover the OPEC summit.

An inquiry for comment was not answered by The Wall Street Journal.

OPEC did not send invites to the three media outlets’ reporters before to the meeting, despite the fact that many of them have been covering OPEC meetings for years. Journalists cannot attend press briefings at the event or enter the OPEC Secretariat, where the ministers are meeting, without credentials.

On Friday, journalists from various media organisations, including the trade periodicals Argus and Platts, got credentials. The Argus said that its reporters will attend and had received credentials. An inquiry for Platts’ response wasn’t immediately responded to.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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