Oil Price Crumbles
By Ed Crooks
December 4, 2015
Late on Thursday afternoon, after a gathering that took longer than expected and left the markets on tenterhooks, the Opec meeting in Vienna came up with its decision: ministers agreed to do nothing at all, leaving production at current levels.
Before they gathered on Friday the FT team in Vienna wrote on the fundamental conflict inside the oil-exporting countries’ group: Saudi Arabia is prepared to cut output to help stabilise prices, but only if other producers, both inside and outside Opec, are prepared to do the same.
Explaining the reasons behind the plunge in crude prices last year, and the reasons why Opec meetings are now so fraught, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, looked at the implications of the US shale boom. The FT warned in an editorial that, as remote as the prospect might seem today, an oil shock could still hurt the world economy. By cutting investment in oil production, low prices are choking back future supplies. The Lex column highlighted one example of that: the financial pressures on the US shale oil industry, which are intensifying. The column argues that seeing the signs of strain in the US, “Saudi may be feeling some vindication”.
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