Occasionally, extra-clever Opec ministers, such as Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Yamani in the 1970s and Ali Naimi more recently, give the impression of being able to influence oil prices with a timely comment or two.
Some analysts thought they saw this last year, when Naimi left the impression he was encouraging prices downward as part of a strategy, spelled out in subsequent weeks, to counter the challenge from soaring US shale oil production.
