Opec ready to stay the course after slow progress
Prices need to fall again if the group's strategy to regain market share is to work
After the doors are shut and the Opec ministers take their seats around the horseshoe table in Vienna's Helferstorfer Strasse on 5 June, their decision should come swiftly: do nothing and keep pumping. Low prices have brought pain for Opec's producers. The group earned $730billion in net oil export revenues in 2014, down 11% on the year before, says the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and revenue could fall to $380bn this year. The slump has left some members, like Venezuela, perilously close to bankruptcy. It's been a high price to pay for its strategy to recoup market share. On the surface, though, the plan to let the market drift lower and force higher-cost rival producers offlin
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
