OPEC defies Joe Biden with a big output cut

The organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is sometimes called the oil market’s central bank. Every month the cartel and its allies, a group of 23 countries that produce 40% of the world’s oil, meet to decide on production targets. The aim is to keep prices high and stable. But just as central-bank governors argue about the speed of rate rises, members of opec+, as the wider group is known, disagree on how fast to turn the spigots.