Opec once decried hedge funds as a malign influence on the oil market. Now it is seeking their opinion. Mohammad Barkindo, secretary-general of the oil exporters’ cartel, said on Tuesday he was meeting fund managers while in Houston for an energy conference this week, giving them his time along with US shale executives and other senior figures in energy circles. The overtures are a change for Opec, which historically lashed out at “speculators” for distorting the price of crude. But financial participants have become too large a presence to ignore. “Times have changed; the industry has changed,” Mr Barkindo told reporters at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference. “We are more globalised, and the impact of the financial markets on oil continues to be magnified. And in this world we believe that we should adapt to these new changes and therefore reach out.” Hedge funds and other money managers have built a net bullish futures position worth nearly 1bn barrels of crude oil, recently the biggest on record. The position expanded after Opec reached an agreement to cut output on November 30.