Stage one of Saudi Arabia’s plan — or perhaps hope — to restructure the oil market is taking longer than expected. By refusing to rein in production while prices fell, the Saudis permitted a big surplus to grow and served notice on higher-cost rivals (Russia, Venezuela, American shale-oil producers) that they would not prop up other people’s profit margins at the expense of their own market share. That signal has been weakened by the growing amount of oil in storage, which is absorbing most of the glut. World oil stocks rose by about 265 million barrels last year and Société Générale, a French bank, reckons they will increase by a further 1.6 million – 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d) in the first six months of this year, adding roughly 300 million barrels to the total. Oil is being stored in the hope that demand and prices will pick up later. Such […]