Too little, too late! These four words summarize the results of the timid attempts made by OPEC over the past few weeks to arrest the slide in oil prices, which have lost two-thirds of their value in the space of four months. These attempts have been confined to the decisions taken by the ministerial meetings of the Conference the organization held on 9-10 September and then 24 October, in fact. The first contented itself with calling to order those of its members that were exceeding their production quotas, while the second decided on a 1.5-million b/d reduction (in principle') in the organization's effective production with effect from 1 November, although everyone well knew that this reduction was far too small, given the slowdown in world demand growth and the increase in stocks.
展开▼
