, Columnist
Oil Markets Needed a SWAT Team. They Got 23 Battalions
Even the Saudi oil minister called last week's negotiations excruciating. The cartel needs a better way to weather Covid-19's impact on demand.
Tensions shouldn’t have to flare every month.
Photographer: George Osodi/Bloomberg
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A little over a week ago I wrote that oil producers need a mechanism allowing them to respond quickly to changes in the oil market that could be both big and fast. I’m pleased to see that’s what they’ve tried to create, even if it isn’t quite what I had in mind.
My colleague Alaric Nightingale suggested the OPEC+ alliance should assemble a small SWAT team that could take swift, tactical action. Instead, it has decided to mobilize its entire army as the rapid-response unit.