Another heave for Opec

Opec must extend its deal or face another sell-off. Then it needs to find an exit strategy

A consensus in the market has taken shape. Supply and demand "balance" is in sight—not imminent, but cuts and oil-demand growth are doing their job. The assumption, endorsed by sources in Opec, is that the cuts need one more effort to finish the job. That means extending them beyond April 2018, their current deadline, possibly to the end of the year. Saudi Arabia and Russia—the only two parties to the Opec-non-Opec deal that matter—are understood to favour this. The plan, say people familiar with the negotiations, may be announced in Vienna on 30 November. Don't be mistaken, though. Opec is in a bind. The language around the cuts over the past year has been about reaching some point of balan