Opec has relied on non-Opec allies before when oil market surpluses become too big for it to manage alone, but the marriage does not last. Opec has a history of drawing on non-Opec producers to help manage the oil market. The Riyadh pact of 1998-99 began with talks in March 1998 between Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico — the so-called ‘SAVE ME’ trio — to regu- late access to the US market. The Asian fnancial crisis of 1997 and Opec’s badly judged decision to increase its production quota at its ministerial meeting in Ja- karta in November that year left the oil market with a large surplus. Brent crude prices fell below $10/bl, the lowest in real terms since the Great Depression of the 1930s, amid a continuous stockbuild that lasted for over two years.
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