Saudi Arabia gambles as Opec makes no cuts
The kingdom’s shift in strategy is as risky as it was abrupt
Youcef Yousfi, Algeria’s oil minister, was adamant when he spoke to Petroleum Economist on the morning of Opec’s 27 November meeting. His country would “of course” trim its own output as part of a wider group cut, he said. He dismissed rumours that the Gulf states had already agreed to hold output steady. Cuts were coming, he suggested, and they would restore prices to “where they were before”. Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s foreign minister and Opec representative, was also convinced. Before the meeting began, he told a huddle of journalists gathered around him that Opec should go deep, stripping the market of supply in the way it had done in Oran, Algeria, in 2008, when the group agreed to cu
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
