From casual observation, one might be forgiven for referring to the OPEC production cut in place since November 2016 as the “Saudi production cut.” That’s because Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s leading producer and de facto leader, has reduced its crude production by the biggest margin, shouldering the bulk of the burden for the rest of OPEC and striving the hardest to bring prices back up. But how long will Riyadh choose to maintain this strategy? Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said definitively that his country will abide no “ free riders ” hoping to take advantage of Saudi cuts to ramp up their own production, as OPEC and non-OPEC producers did in the 1980s. It now seems possible that OPEC may agree on an extension of the production cuts past June 2017, but with its own agenda and an eye towards an “ oil-less ” future, Saudi Arabia may choose […]