Opec must decide between market share and oil price
The legacy of Opec’s high oil-price strategy is now plain: rising supply and weakening demand growth. The group must decide whether to rescue its market share or the oil price
Some time on 27 November, probably in the late afternoon, Abdalla El-Badri will sit down behind a microphone in a windowless basement room in Vienna and tell the world how Opec plans to deal with an oil price that, by Petroleum Economist’s press time, had lost a quarter of its value since early June. If the downward trend lasts, the group’s basket of crude could be trading well beneath $80 a barrel by the time the secretary general speaks. Will his words matter? Opec claims to hold 81% of the world’s conventional crude-oil reserves and produces a third of its oil. So there are good reasons why journalists gather twice a year in the Austrian capital to stalk oil ministers from the cartel’s 12
Also in this section
23 April 2026
The addition of an oil pipeline to the Power of Siberia 2 gas project could ensure deliveries of Russian oil to China, materially shorten logistics lines between West Siberia and final customers, and—amid disruption in the Strait of Hormuz—offer a land-based export route that reduces exposure to maritime chokepoints
23 April 2026
There is a clear push to bolster exports to Asia amid uncertainty around its North American neighbour, but there are limits to the benefits from the energy crisis
23 April 2026
Shell made the play-opening discovery in Namibia’s Orange basin back in 2022, but its next well could decide whether the project can actually be commercialised
22 April 2026
The failure of OMV Petrom’s keenly watched exploration campaign at Bulgaria’s Han Asparuh block highlights the Black Sea’s uneven track record, despite major successes like Neptun Deep and Sakarya
