OPEC’s Decade of Turmoil Leaves Cartel Seeking a New Way Forward
How about getting a new business model. Instead of pulling stuff out of your soil, selling it to the world and keep the population sweet with gifts from the state try empowering your entrepreneurs. All they need is courts that are fair and apply the law instead of the whims of the government, iron-clad property protection, some civil rights when faced with overbearing public officials, … Oh, you don’t want that? You want to keep your people docile and sweet? Well then, never mind. Just wait for the inevitable to happen. There is really nothing you can do about it.
A global recession, both $140 and $30 oil, the U.S. shale revolution, a market-share war, and output cuts. OPEC’s 60-year history has rarely confronted a more challenging period than the past decade. Now, instead of enjoying the higher prices resulting from 18 months of joint production cuts with a coalition of other major producers, the cartel faces new problems. A tweet-happy American president is ramping up geopolitical risk, renewed sanctions are hammering Iran’s exports, Venezuelan production is tanking as its economy collapses, and a political attack from Washington in the form of the NOPEC bill.
