Maintaining a stable world oil market is a global responsibility and not one that should fall squarely on the shoulders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, two of the cartel’s primary decision makers emphasized during separate discussions at CERAWeek by IHS Markit on Mar. 7. In past industry downturns, non-OPEC producers “simply reaped the benefits of OPEC supply reduction,” but now OPEC has made it clear it “will not bear the burden of free riders,” explained Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi minister of energy, industry, and mineral resources, and chairman of Saudi Aramco, to his Houston audience during a ministerial address. “We can’t do what we did in the ’80s and ’90s by swinging millions of barrels in response to market conditions,” he stated. OPEC members and 11 non-OPEC nations late last year altogether agreed to cut production by about 1.8 million b/d through this year’s first 6 months ( […]