Opec tries to ride out oil market's perfect storm

Istanbul

FOR the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cartel - created in 1960 with the aim of supporting a sustainable price on the oil market - it is, in some ways, a perfect storm.

Stocks have surged thanks to the rapid emergence of oil from US shale deposits. And due to the abundant supply, the price of oil now stands at less than US$50 per barrel, around a third of the level of 10 years ago, when it topped a high of US$147.