OIL: Searching for Stability

Amid obvious signs of concern about falling world oil demand, leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries gathered in Algeria last week for their first summit conference. Declining oil revenues in recent months have caused small but telling fissures in the cartel's unity, and they were apparent from the start of the meeting. Four of the 13 OPEC chiefs, including King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer, did not even show up, but sent representatives instead.

Grand Policy. The main purpose of the three-day summit, held in the isolated beach resort of Club des Pins outside Algiers,...

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