Divided oil world

The global crude supply landscape has transformed over the past two years, bringing some blessings and many curses for producers

Opec's decision in November 2014 not to cut production—one it has maintained at every meeting since—sparked a global output free-for-all, sending oil prices down in the process. Almost two years on, ahead of another unofficial Opec meeting in Algeria, Brent wasn't even able to sustain a price at $50 a barrel, its inflation-adjusted level since the 1970s. Demand is hardly roaring ahead, but the real culprit remains too much supply. In August, global oil production was 96.9m barrels a day—just 300,000 b/d less than a year ago. That's hardly the kind of supply retreat anyone expected when prices started to crumble. The relentless nature of the supply glut continues to thwart forecasters. In Jan