London — Annual energy conference CERAWeek has exposed all the contradictions at the heart of oil-cartel Opec’s attempt to re-balance the oil market without rekindling the shale boom or conceding too much market share to rivals. The oil industry conference in Houston started with a celebration of higher prices, progress towards drawing down global stockpiles, and optimism about the outlook for shale producers. But it ended with the biggest daily fall in prices for more than a year, fears that stocks are not declining as planned, and warnings that shale producers could cause a renewed slump if they increase output too fast. Staying in step Opec members, led by Saudi Arabia, have reported nearly full compliance with output cuts announced last November, though performance remains very uneven across the group. And once again, Saudi Arabia has made the deepest cuts to offset patchy compliance by other members, returning to its hated role of swing producer. But Opec’s rush to increase out...
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