OPEC refusal hits oil’s weak links from Iran to U.S. shale

VIENNA, Austria (Bloomberg) -- The refusal of Saudi Arabia and its OPEC allies to curb crude oil output in the face of plummeting prices has set the energy world on a painful course that will leave the weakest behind, from governments to U.S. wildcatters. A grand experiment has begun, one in which the cartel of producing nations -- sometimes called the central bank of oil -- is leaving the market to decide who is strongest and how to cut as much as 2 MMbopd of surplus supply.

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