How Opec and its allies seek 'nirvana of balance' with reduced oil output

The market will now get to deliver its verdict on whether OPEC has once again baked a magic pudding that will allow crude prices to rise, but not so high that demand is threatened

The key concept in the wake of the decision to reduce crude oil output by Opec and its allies is "balance". It's something everybody in the market says they want, but they all have different ideas of what it means and how to get there.

Boiled down to the basics, both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the other producers, most notably Russia, are trying to do with the move to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) is achieve their vision of a balanced market.

While what this means is not exactly spelt out in