Oil’s endgame will be in the Gulf

The run-up to a special OPEC symposium held in Vienna last July saw concerted efforts to show the cartel to be effective and united. Pressure from Russia, one of ten countries that align themselves with opec’s policies to form what is known as OPEC+, for a higher production quota was faced down in April, when it agreed instead to cut production along with the rest of the cartel. A squabble between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which had demanded an increase in its quotas to accommodate a planned big expansion in production capacity, was resolved in June.