Suitably Flip

Greedy Oil Mongers

Look, kids - an OPEC meeting.

OPEC ministers agreed Thursday to hold oil production unchanged for now but set the stage for a cutback of half a million barrels a day in February. Oil rose above $62 a barrel in response.

The decision -- in a closed meeting of the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- was confirmed by OPEC President Edmund Daukoru, who is also oil minister of Nigeria, along with ministers from other member nations.

With world inventories high but moving downward and the coldest days of the Northern Hemisphere winter still ahead, the move was a compromise -- meant to keep markets and consumers calm at least in the short term. It also left a possible window for the organization to retrench and decide not to cut in February should demand spike, moving prices sharply upward.

Jerks.

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Greedy Oil Mongers

Look, kids - an OPEC meeting.

OPEC ministers agreed Thursday to hold oil production unchanged for now but set the stage for a cutback of half a million barrels a day in February. Oil rose above $62 a barrel in response.

The decision -- in a closed meeting of the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- was confirmed by OPEC President Edmund Daukoru, who is also oil minister of Nigeria, along with ministers from other member nations.

With world inventories high but moving downward and the coldest days of the Northern Hemisphere winter still ahead, the move was a compromise -- meant to keep markets and consumers calm at least in the short term. It also left a possible window for the organization to retrench and decide not to cut in February should demand spike, moving prices sharply upward.

Jerks.