OPEC ministers attend an informal meeting on the eve of the Vienna meeting. VIENNA—OPEC members said Thursday they were poised to agree to extend their efforts to cut crude-oil production through the end of June and possibly through all of 2018, a crucial juncture for an oil industry in the midst of a fragile recovery. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries gathered Thursday morning at its Vienna headquarters to decide how long to keep up a deal struck last year that withholds almost 2% of global petroleum production. The current agreement expires at the end of March. Oil-market observers say anything less than an extension throughout 2018 could cause oil prices to fall Thursday because Saudi Arabia has built up expectations for it. Analysts have said continued cuts are necessary to help OPEC achieve its goal of bringing inventories back to the five-year average. Stockpiles have fallen closer […]