, Columnist
The Saudi-Russian Oil Axis Snubs Biden With Production Cuts
OPEC+ is gambling with the global economy.
Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's energy minister, center.
Photographer: Akos Stiller/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The OPEC+ cartel has just delivered a massive snub to Western governments facing the worst energy crisis in half a century. Look past the buzzwords accompanying Wednesday's cut in oil production — preemptive move, uncertain outlook — and it’s difficult to see the move as anything but an attack on a global economy that desperately needs the price of crude to remain subdued.
In all its history, OPEC — and its new incarnation, the OPEC+ alliance — has never curbed output so much, and so quickly, while Brent was still flirting with $100 a barrel. Triple-digit prices used to push the group into output-boost mode, not the reverse.