Saudi Arabia steps forward to put some bite back into Opec

London

SAUDI Arabia wants its status as the world's swing oil producer back. Since 2014, the kingdom has stayed on the sidelines as the oil price plunged. On June 22, new Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih gave the first sign that this is about to change.

By using its extensive spare capacity, Saudi Arabia is the only major producer in the cartel with the power to balance out swings in prices on its own. Without strong leadership from Riyadh, the 13-strong Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has been incapable of agreeing on a plan to deal with the crisis caused by falling prices and the loss of market share to producers outside the group. Instead of defending higher prices above US$80 per barrel, Op…