Algerian oil minister learns of dismissal from news report Boutarfa was architect of OPEC, non-OPEC production cut deal As OPEC ministers gathered in Vienna Thursday to agree a nine-month extension of their oil-supply pact, the man credited with bringing about the landmark deal learned from a news broadcast that he had been fired. The story broke as Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa attended a closed session with counterparts early Thursday afternoon. First came an unconfirmed report from an Algerian TV station, according to delegates who were present. More than an hour later, the nation’s official APS news agency confirmed it. Noureddine Boutarfa Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg It should have been a day of triumph for the man whose dogged diplomacy helped seal the historic alliance between producers of more than half the world’s oil, but the decision appears to have been far removed from events unfolding in Vienna. A day […]