OPEC extends output cuts but “caught in a pincer”

From Stanley Reed at The Age:

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries extended oil production cuts through March 2018, Khalid A. al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said in Vienna overnight. The move follows a decision this month by Saudi Arabia and Russia to do so.

The earlier announcement helped lift prices from a low of $US46. But on Thursday, prices shed more than 4 per cent with more than a billion barrels traded….

“Opec is being caught in a pincer movement of technology and policy that will, over time, erode oil use,” said Bill Farren-Price, chief executive of Petroleum Policy Intelligence, an advisory firm for hedge funds and other investors. “This meeting is more about forestalling an oil price collapse than driving prices higher.”

Read more at: OPEC agrees to extend output cuts through March 2018