, Columnist
Coming Soon: "OPEC's Worst Meeting Ever, Part 2"
The Saudi about-face on production lays the ground for discord in Vienna.
Saudi Arabia takes a leaf from Hollywood’s book.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
You know how, a few years after a Hollywood blockbuster gets released, it seems to get a remake? Well, it looks Saudi-Arabia’s oil minister Khalid Al-Falih is setting himself up to reboot his predecessor's 2011 hit – "OPEC's Worst Meeting."
His starting point is an about face. Al-Falih had said as recently as April that the group’s output cuts should be extended and the goalposts moved. But in what looks like a response to President Donald Trump's April 20 tweet attacking the group, Saudi Arabia has gone from advocating higher prices to trying to stop the rally at $80 a barrel.