The rules of the game are changing in the oil market. Prices fell to their lowest in three weeks after reports that the agreement to curtail output by 1.8 million barrels a day between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member Russia was likely to end as soon as next month. It wasn’t set to expire until the end of this year. One reason may be that prices recently touched their highest since 2014 , potentially slowing economic growth and harming future demand. A more important one is the political misfortune of fellow cartel members Venezuela and Iran and a host of production issues experienced by some smaller ones. The largest cartel members want to fill the void left by these disruptions rather than allowing others to do it. A cartel exists to maximize profits for its members, but game theory tells us that it is very […]