Nov 14th 2019MEMBERS OF THE Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, live in a state of uneasy anticipation. Concern about climate change may mean demand for oil wanes in the coming decades. OPEC’s power in oil markets is fading fast. On November 13th the International Energy Agency (IEA), an intergovernmental forecaster, predicted that by 2030 OPEC and Russia, an ally, would pump just 47% of the world’s crude. Yet OPEC has a more immediate problem at hand. Global demand for oil has been unexpectedly anaemic this year (see chart ). Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, estimates that it may have risen by just 0.8%, the slowest pace since the financial crisis. OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, are due to meet in Vienna on December 5th and 6th. The first question is whether they will announce a new plan to support the oil price. If they do, the second question is whether they will stick to it. Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address