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
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
1 December 2025
The North African producer’s first bidding round in almost two decades is an important milestone but the recent extension suggests a degree of trepidation
