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
21 February 2025
While large-scale planned LNG schemes in sub-Saharan Africa have faced fresh problems, FLNG projects are stepping into that space
20 February 2025
Greater social mobility means increased global demand for refined fuels and petrochemical products, with Asia leading the way in the expansion of refining capacity
19 February 2025
The EU would do well to ease its gas storage requirements to avoid heavy purchase costs this summer, with the targets having created market distortion while giving sellers a significant advantage over buyers
18 February 2025
Deliveries to China decline by around 1m b/d from move to curb crude exports to Shandong port, putting Iran under further economic pressure
