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
Also in this section
16 May 2024
Flat oil growth in 2024 highlights mounting industry problems
15 May 2024
Five years ago, Uzbekistan turned to a private company called Saneg to reverse the fortunes of its oil industry. Results so far are encouraging, and according to CEO Tulkin Yusupov, further progress is on the way
13 May 2024
But optimism about island nation checked by competition around African upstream investment and history of false dawns
9 May 2024
Pipeline boosts Canada’s oil industry by widening its export options, making it less reliant on US market and bringing Asia into the mix