Opec: more of the same
Extending the cuts for nine months is designed to kill off the stock glut, but the pledge to keep going will buoy tight oil
Opec and its partners outside the group are sticking with the plan, convinced they will succeed in eliminating the global stock glut. But in extending their deal for nine months, to end-March 2017, they have accepted the market's judgement: the rebalancing process will take longer than they wanted or expected. Had they ended the deal as planned at end-2017, Saudi Arabia's oil minister Khalid al-Falih said, Opec's producers would have added "a large slug" of supply to the market, creating another hefty stock build. Oil ministers also discussed deeper cuts in the meeting, in Vienna on 25 May, as well as a 12-month extension. But new quotas would take weeks of preparatory negotiations, which ha
Also in this section
24 December 2025
As activity in the US Gulf has stagnated at a lower level, the government is taking steps to encourage fresh exploration and bolster field development work
23 December 2025
The new government has brought stability and security to the country, with the door now open to international investment
23 December 2025
A third wave of LNG supply is coming, and with it a likely oversupply of the fuel by 2028
22 December 2025
Weakening climate resolve in the developed world and rapidly growing demand in developing countries means peak oil is still a long way away
