Emergency cases

摘要

The slide in crude prices since June is testing Opec’s resolve over its policy of chasing market share. Iran has joined Venezuela and Algeria in calls for an emergency Opec meeting aimed at supporting crude prices. But Saudi Arabia and its Mideast Gulf allies, which cajoled the rest of Opec into agreeing to the new policy, will not change course. They have no intention of convening Opec before its scheduled 4 December meeting in Vienna. They are in for the long haul, aiming to reclaim market share from non-Opec. But they may yet end up reclaiming it from the emergency cases at Opec’s periphery that cannot invest to maintain capacity, or face collapse under the fiscal strain of falling oil revenues.