Time for action from Opec

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister says Opec will take “any possible action” to stabilise the market. The group should cut, now

The plan to recover market share, force rival producers out of business and wait for prices to bounce back has failed and is creating the conditions for a damaging price spike later this decade. Another boom, forced by the supply gaps that will emerge from the colossal withdrawal of upstream spending, might sound tempting for producers struggling with sub-$50-a-barrel Brent. But it would be a disaster for the industry, giving the decisive push for alternative energy sources and signalling oil’s eventual obsolescence. To avoid this, Opec and any other producer it can cajole into action—Russia, for a start—should act now. This means not just a freeze in production at high levels; and not just