Opec: Emperors with No Clothes

Prices dip, and the market shows who rules the oil trade

In an eighth-floor suite of London's Hotel Inter-Continental overlooking Buckingham Palace, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week struggled for its survival as the premier power in world oil markets. Said Algeria's Energy Minister, Belkacem Nabi: "We all recognize that this is a very important meeting, unique in the history of OPEC." A global oil glut has driven the spot price for Saudi Light crude to about $28 per bbl. That is well under OPEC's official benchmark price of $34 per bbl. but not low enough to suit...

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