Opec: The rollover
The cuts were extended—but with a built-in escape hatch and implicit threat to other producers
Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, appeared relaxed. A long day of meetings was over and, taking the microphone at the press conference in Vienna on 30 November, he seemed keen to reassert the kingdom's command of the oil market. Saudi Arabia got what it came for in the Austrian capital at the end of November. But Russia's influence was plain. Opec agreed a nine-month extension to the cuts that would otherwise have expired in Q2 2018. It forced Libya and Nigeria to accept a cap on output. The revised deal starts from 1 January 2018 but keeps the cuts, spread across the group and its non-Opec partners, at 1.8m barrels a day. It secures Moscow's cooperation again, dispelling for ano
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
