, Columnist
Why Saudi Arabia May Unravel OPEC's Big Deal
Maintaining exports may be more important than balancing supply.
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OPEC's big drama may well be just a one-act light opera.
Saudi Arabia's oil minister Khalid Al-Falih says it may not be necessary to extend the deal reached by the group and some non-member nations to cut oil supply by around 1.8 million barrels a day beyond its initial six months, and that doing so could create a shortage. That seems a very quick and painless solution to an oversupply problem that has bedeviled the oil market for the past two years, brought several producers to the brink of collapse and tipped others over it.