Opec: The rollover
The cuts were extended—but with a built-in escape hatch and implicit threat to other producers
Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, appeared relaxed. A long day of meetings was over and, taking the microphone at the press conference in Vienna on 30 November, he seemed keen to reassert the kingdom's command of the oil market. Saudi Arabia got what it came for in the Austrian capital at the end of November. But Russia's influence was plain. Opec agreed a nine-month extension to the cuts that would otherwise have expired in Q2 2018. It forced Libya and Nigeria to accept a cap on output. The revised deal starts from 1 January 2018 but keeps the cuts, spread across the group and its non-Opec partners, at 1.8m barrels a day. It secures Moscow's cooperation again, dispelling for ano
Also in this section
1 April 2026
Golden Pass’s startup offers QatarEnergy a timely boost but may also force a difficult choice between honouring disrupted contracts and capitalising on soaring spot LNG prices
1 April 2026
It is not a case of if or when, but the length and magnitude of economic damage from elevated oil prices
1 April 2026
The US-Iran conflict demonstrates the need for diversification in several senses of the word. It also exposes the limits of Washington applying pressure on major oil and gas producers it considers geopolitical adversaries
31 March 2026
Disappointing results in its bidding round are a reality check for Libya, and global exploration generally
