Since its December 2016 oil production-cut deal came into effect, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has seen crude oil prices more than double, following the market rebound from the lows of early 2016. Due to the global anticipation of the Cartel’s voluntary supply withdraws – aimed at further sustaining the technical price recovery – prices have steadily continued to trend higher since the 2014 Brent Crude oil contract plunged. Brokered by Algeria, the deal to cut production volumes – following OPEC’s 2014 attempt to break the US Shale-Oil industry by permitting the global supply overhang – nears its official end in the second half of the year. Questions over the future of OPEC production, in light of OECD crude oil stockpiles falling below the Cartel’s targeted five-year averages, now lingers over the market. This perhaps applies even more to the future price trajectory for the globally traded […]